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Hello and welcome to London Influence, the newsletter that declares all its interests in the proper manner. Tips, gossip, state secrets and coffee requests @johnjohnstonmi or jjohnston@politico.co.uk | View in your browser

SNEAK PEEK

— The Westminster campaign to clean up lobbying cranks up a notch.

— Rishi Sunak overhauls Downing Street business engagement efforts — so what’s going on?

— Could drafting in a bunch of CEOs ramp up Whitehall efficiency?

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LOBBYING WESTMINSTER

LOBBYISTS LOBBYING ABOUT LOBBYING LATEST: Lobbying industry group the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is ramping up its lobbying on … Westminster lobbying reform. And it’s not just dodgy MPs in its sights.

Remember December: The CIPR launched its Lobbying For Good Lobbying campaign late last year in a bid to improve transparency, raise standards and create a level-playing field for all lobbyists.. It’s been asking members to contact their MPs in a bid to drum up support in SW1.

Latest: Speaking to Influence ahead of a fresh event this coming Tuesday, Jon Gerlis, CIPR’s head of public relations and policy, said it had been a “slow but encouraging start.” He reckons parliamentarians are now acutely aware of the reputational damage being inflicted by a failure to tighten up lobbying rules. To be fair, they’ve had a few choice reminders.

Reception on the doorstep: “We’re aware we’re up against some pretty significant issues facing the country and the government. We’ve got an election coming up, we’ve got manifestos being drafted,” he said. But he added: “This is a key political issue, and while it might not necessarily be brought up on the doorstep, it will influence the kind of discussions you’re going to have on the doorstep, or even if the door is going to be opened to you.”

Cheers lads: Recent marmalade-dropping lobbying scandals have been “disappointing,” says Gerlis, but he admits they haven’t “really hurt the campaign.” You can say that again.

But: Some in the industry argue that the transgressions of MPs are just that, and that repeated “lobbying without lobbyists” stories should not be a problem for groups like the CIPR to fix.

Two to tango: Gerlis argues that while these MP-led lobbying scandals can be “tiresome” to read about, it’s not possible to extricate the wider lobbying industry from the damage.

Tactical Tory: “When we’re talking about MPs working for businesses or providing advocacy services for payment, someone is paying them. There are businesses and organisations involved in trying to recruit and hire MPs to do this,” he said. “Now in [Tory MP Scott] Benton’s case, obviously, there was a fake company, but I think the most alarming part of that was the fact that he very quickly went to a tactical approach… It was very telling just how quickly he went for that approach setting out the sorts of services he and his colleagues were able to offer … working together to help their causes and vice versa.”

Two way street: While Gerlis doesn’t believe tapping up MPs is particularly effective in the first place, he says the whole row shows that there are firms out there willing to do so.

Education nation: “The parliamentarian hasn’t just gone and decided to engage in lobbying,” Gerlis added. “If they did, without payment involved, there wouldn’t be a concern, but the fact there’s someone paying them at the other end suggests that actually there is still some education needed on both sides.”

So what’s the plan? Tuesday’s event (you can sign up here) will provide an opportunity for the industry and parliamentarians to “get their heads together” and talk about a system that “works for everyone and, most importantly, builds that public trust back again.” But then what will Influence write about???

BUSINESS COUNCIL CANNED: The flagship business group set up by Boris Johnson in a bid to improve relations between Downing Street and industry is set to be scrapped by Rishi Sunak, according to the Telegraph. So are business jitters justified?

Background: Johnson set up the business council following the pandemic in a bid to provide an open door between big business and No. 10. But despite concerns about higher taxes and increasing red tape, the group hasn’t held any meetings since February.

That tallies with: Wider concerns from industry and agencies who have all expressed frustration to Influence about an increasingly impenetrable Downing Street business engagement operation they say has faltered since Sunak took office.

Instead: The paper reports that a “select group of bosses” has been invited to attend a revamped ‘Business Connect’ conference.

But, but, but: Influence hears Downing Street’s spin around the event being an exclusive, invite-only affair may in fact stem from … a failure to attract a wider group of executives.

Sounds cool: One agency insider said the event had been a tough sell to time-strapped clients because of a lack of detailed itinerary. Another agency bod described the organization of the event as “just a bit shit, really” and a third simply sent the *shrug* emoji.

And yet: The business council itself is no big loss, says Craig Beaumont, external affairs chief at the Federation of Small Businesses. He tells Influence Johnson’s group failed to achieve much since its inception and would benefit from a relaunch — especially given its reliance on massive firms.

Talking shop: “The business council was packed with big businesses,” he says. “Membership was chosen by Boris to be those individual firms who by virtue of single business decisions could, say, open a factory or give a jolt of inward investment, to help the PM’s agenda.”

Fallen off: While big business benefited from corporation tax cuts and energy help in the budget, small business already felt they had “fallen off the radar of this government in its first 6 months” and that a reset could offer a change for better representation for smaller firms.

What next? Beaumont says the key question is: “How do Rishi, Jeremy [Hunt] and Kemi [Badenoch] want to engage with the business community, now, for the next 18 months? Every set of ministers is different and has its own approach … If it’s just an absence of anything then that would be poor.”

QUICK HITS

INTERESTING TIMES: The list of ministerial interests has dropped and *spoiler alert* it’s not as illuminating as we might have hoped.

Blind sided: The majority of ministers have their financial interests locked away behind “blind trusts” or “blind management arrangements.”

You may very well think that: Ministers are very likely to be aware — at least to an extent — of what is contained in their trusts unless they are significantly diverse enough to be unaware of what is included in their portfolios.

In the dark: But not even a summary of those interests is included — or whether they are relevant to their ministerial portfolio – meaning that there is a major transparency blindspot for those trying to scrutinize the cash being earned by ministers.

Nothing new: Transparency group Spotlight on Corruption have already raised concerns about the use of these blind trusts, pointing out way back in 2020 that these arrangements are not policed or regulated in any meaningful way.

Facade: The group pointed out that in the “absence of a cast-iron barrier between beneficiary and assets it is perhaps useful to consider blind trusts as a tool to encourage the public perception that steps have been taken to manage conflicts of interests without requiring politicians to divest of their financial interests.”

The publication comes: Days after the Commons standards committee launched an investigation into Rishi Sunak for a potential failure to declare a relevant interest.

Child’s play: That probe has been linked to his wife’s minority stake in childcare firm, Koru Kids, which is expected to benefit from the recent Budget boost for the sector.

That interest: Has been included in the ministerial interests publication but as a footnote.

Patron-age: One thing that has come from the latest register is that ministers continue to hold lots of patronages — covering everything from hospices to heritage railways.

CBI WOES MOUNT: Another rough week at the Confederation of British Industry as it reels from allegations of sexual misconduct.

Latest to leave: The British Insurance Broker’s Association, the trade body that represents 1,800 insurance firms, confirmed it’s withdrawing from the group, which last week announced it was appointing former chief economist Rain Newton-Smith as director general.

But but but: The CBI is already facing questions over the appointment by former CBI director Andrew Sentance. Sentance, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee told the Times he believed a “major shake-up” of management is now the only way through the crisis, saying it needs an “experienced external business-fixer to come in and sort things out.”

And now: Ousted director general Tony Danker is not going quietly. He told the BBC that while he had made some staff feel “very uncomfortable,” his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims that pre-date his time in the job.

Uhoh: In a sign of this all spilling out into the open, CBI President Brian McBride told the Today program Danker’s description of events was “selective.”

THINK TANK LAND

REFORMING TIME: Bring in CEOs to run Whitehall departments — and let the ministers do the media and policy fretting. That’s the call from newly-launched group the Effective Governance Forum. Influence got time to talk through their eye-catching report.

The background: The non-partisan group ran some polling showing how voters believe public services are, frankly, in a state, something they say bolsters the case for a Whitehall overhaul.

Case in point: Report co-author Tim Knox, former head of the Centre of Policy Studies, points out that even a landslide-blessed Tony Blair complained of pulling the levers of power to no avail.

The prescription: Is radical to say the least, and involves a major shake-up of Whitehall’s inner workings by appointing experienced CEOs from business and the third sector to take on much of the day-to-day management of government departments, with ministers essentially acting as chair of the board.

Big changes: Restructuring would, the group argues, put experienced managers in charge of delivering policy. Departments would become independent legal entities, stopping civil servants frequently moving between departments — with the resultant loss of institutional memory — and handing CEOs powers to set their own hiring, promotion and pay schemes.

Back to basics: According to Knox, the proposals would free up ministers — who often lack any management experience — to focus on the big policy questions without the distraction of managing a workforce that is often larger in headcount than many FTSE 100 firms.

Heads down: “There is no mysterious element of management, it’s just being able to set and monitor targets, and adapt accordingly and make sure you are focused on the right things,” he says. “It’s why nothing will really happen until the basic underlying problems are addressed.”

And: Under the current system, Knox argues, senior civil servants climb the greasy pole by focussing more on keep their ministers happy, while the actual implementation of good policy takes a backseat. He believes the change would likely be welcomed by the majority of officials who are eager to deliver good policy.

Whitehall drift: “I think you’d find the civil servants who want to change things … the ones who want to get things done, they should welcome our proposals,” he added. “It’s how business works successfully, through involving the lower ranks of management and meeting targets and getting rewarded for meeting specific problems. It should be something much more comparable to that than to the current drift and lack of accountability.”

Training day: The report also suggests backbench MPs with ministerial ambitions should be given proper management training. Knox puts some of the current dearth of management experience down to the broader shift in parliamentary candidates over the last few decades — experienced business people and trade union leaders are now arriving in smaller numbers.

Look away MPs: “Now the intake of all parties primarily consists of Oxbridge graduates who have done PPE and have done an internship at a think tank and then a bit as a parliamentary researcher … become a school governor and a local councillor then have gone up the greasy pole,” he said. “I think that is a real problem.”

Back to reality: The group admits they don’t see their radical proposals being adopted in full anytime soon. But they reckon they have “struck a nerve” with many experienced MPs concerned at eye-watering sums being poured into failing public services.

Moving on up: “On almost every single level of government, there is no pride in British government. We are going to be strapped for cash, there is no money, the public is aware there is a problem,” Knox adds. “One of the latent aims is to try and have more discussion around why nothing works in the hope this moves up the political agenda.”

One downside: Knox jokes that turning Whitehall into an actually well-oiled machine could see really bad policy being delivered incredibly efficiently.

ON THE MOVE

Ben Hemington has a new DCMS role as chief speechwriter and communications lead to the culture secretary.

Simon Marlow is starting a new position as senior manager of public affairs at EY.

Euan Sinclair Elliot started as public affairs manager at Citizens Advice.

Laura Griffiths took up a new role as public affairs manager at building science centre BRE, following stints at RenewableUK and SEC Newgate.

Evie Aspinall has taken up a new role as director of the British Foreign Policy Group.

Former PRCA head of comms Michael Collins joined Sky as a strategic communications business partner.

And Emily Carter-Kandola got going as a associate director at Hanbury Strategy.

Emily Duncan has joined the Financial Reporting Council as head of stakeholder engagement.

David Talbot is joining OVID Health as its new director and head of public affairs after an 8 year stint at FTI consulting.

Two new hires for start-ups lobby Coadec, which took on Bella Rhodes as talent policy lead and Aria Babu as a policy fellow focused on innovation.

And a spate of hires for Strand Partners, including … Naomi Chalupczak who joins as associate following a stint at the U.S. embassy in London focussed on Labour engagement … Laura Salvage also joins as an associate … and Amanda Sefton jumps onboard as an executive.

Public First expanded their energy and environment team by adding expertise from … Anna Taylor … Bertie Wnek … and Amy Norman.

Finally, some parish news as POLITICO Europe’s Cornelius Hirsch moves on up to director of research and analysis.

Jobs job jobs: Grayling are hunting for a senior account manager … Centre For London are hiring a new chief executive … CCHQ are looking for a social media and digital campaign manager … the FDA union is after a national officer … Unicef have an ad for a strategic communications planner … and the House of Lords needs a senior internal communications manager.

Thanks: To editor Matt Honeycombe-Foster for launching an independent investigation into typos. And the production team for navigating this through the internet tubes and into your inboxes.

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