Hiding MP staffer names is a bizarre decision post-Mandelson scandal Opinion Plans to remove the names of MP staffers from the official register will only make Westminster more opaque, writes Alastair McCapra.
Mandelson scandal proves it’s time to rewrite lobbying rules Opinion Peter Mandelson, the Prince of Darkness, operated in the shadows. Only improved transparency around lobbying can prevent the next scandal, says Alastair McCarpra Pete Brown’s book Clubland, on the history of Britain’s working men’s clubs, includes an account of early lobbying in Westminster. Faced with the potentially damaging 1902 Licensing Act, the Club & Institute Union [...]
Why leaking can make for good government Opinion Mic-drop moments does not a good government make, says Alastair McCapra. He makes the case for political leaking.
Bring WhatsApp out of the dark and make MPs messages part of the lobbying register August 22, 2023 Successive lobbying scandals have eaten away at our faith in our politics and elections, all messages whether that be on WhatsApp or by owl-post, should be subject to lobbying rules, writes Alastair McCapra. After a seemingly never-ending string of scandals, lobbying is back on MPs’ agendas with both the government and the opposition proposing measures [...]
The age of politics by WhatsApp has damaged our trust in transparency November 11, 2022 “We all know how it works”, said the then prime minister David Cameron in 2010. “The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisers for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way.” What Cameron didn’t know when he gave the speech, which explicitly linked “secret [...]
