Taking part in Question Time tonight is “businessman and adviser” Iain Anderson. Guido wonders if the BBC intends to mention that Anderson, a corporate lobbyist, wrote Labour’s “long term plan for government-business relations” along with a colleague of his who has now alighted to work for Labour. It’s loftily titled “A New Partnership”…
The plan is an official Labour document. It says that the party should ease rules on regulated industries to “fix regulatory bottlenecks” seen since 2016, as well as committing to the “co-creation” of strategy and policy with business. Guido notes that Iain Anderson founded and still runs Cicero, a government lobbying company which currently represents at least 16 clients in those very regulated industries, including abrdn, American Express, BlackRock, and Lloyds of London. The policy document also pushes for “partnership councils” to “co-create strategy and policy” in areas “not currently represented” within government like “financial services and technology.” Funny, then, that most of Cicero’s clients are in that particular sector…
Co-conspirators may remember Anderson (who was also chairman of Stonewall) very publicly switching from his avowed love of the Tories and Liz Truss to back Labour last year. Guido remarked at the time that only a cynic would think it happens to be fortunate for the consummate government lobbyist to ever-so publicly switch his decades-long party affiliation to the party well ahead in the polls ahead of a general election. And only a cynic would think Labour’s business plan is evidence of a strategy working well…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”