I'm a lobbyist. AMA.

[nachdemregen]

As above, I work in public affairs, aka lobbying. I usually describe myself as a lobbyist as most people look at me blankly when I say 'public affairs'!

How did you become a lobbyist? Seems a fascinating career!

Very interesting thread. Thanks for starting OP.

This is not the effing USA with hugely paid lobbyists acting on the behalf of massive corporations - normally involving essential services. I would recommend you ask for this thread to be removed. By proclaiming yourself as a 'Lobbyist' you're into issues re terminology whereas I think you're trying to portray yourself as some coiffed Anne Hathaway type character breezing into the House in form fitting Chanel rip off waving at the Guards (perhaps getting them coffee and pastries?) without having to go through the normal checks.

@IhateHPSDeaneCnt If you work in an agency you have to declare who you work for on a Cabinet Office register. There are moves towards ensuring companies have to declare if they employ lobbyists. It’s called the ‘Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists’ so I doubt the term makes hackles rise.

Interesting career. I've encountered a number of MPs in my time through the third sector. Some aren't the brightest lightbulb in the box, so dealing with them can be challenging.

How do you deal with the less talented MPs @nachdemregen ?

Excellent re 'moving towards' identifying lobbyists with an agenda - so happy when government manages to monetise stuff which has been under the table all these years!!!

Oh come on op. Tesco don’t lobby government so they can give “millions access to good value food”! Again totally disingenuous! Tesco lobby government to make sure the political and legislative landscape are as conducive as possible to them making money for their shareholders. That’s why they do everything they do. They are a business. That’s their job. You just sound silly now sorry.

@IhateHPSDeaneCnt As someone who is agency side I feel it’s absolutely right that companies should declare. But don’t try and pretend that there is some kind of dark secret around who lobbyists work for. Everyone in my industry knows exactly who I work with. And it’s obvious really that companies like Tesco, who have been mentioned previously in this thread, will lobby Govt. It’s all over the press for one thing.

And when I say in my industry, I mean it’s an open register. Here’s the link so knock yourself out. I for one, am there, somewhere…

https://registrarofconsultantlobbyists.org.uk/

I also work in government affairs. And I also find it hard to explain what exactly I do. I really dislike describing myself as a lobbyist - because I grew up with the same associations as many PPs have about what lobbyism implies, and these associations are very remote from what I do.

After reading the exchanges on this thread I tried to think of other professions which are totally misunderstood and are either vilified (eg journalists) or glamorised (eg detectives or secret service agents).

Professions evolve with the evolution of societies and their cultural norms. Some behaviours acceptable for teachers or managers when I was growing up or started my career would be a sackable offence now. The same applies to government relations. This is not the stereotypical lobbying of yesteryear over a boozy lunch.

There are strict codes of conduct, internal (in companies) and external (at least in some jurisdictions).

I work mostly with the EU institutions and my company is registered in the compulsory Transparency Register. Every year we submit information about the lobbyists representing our interests in Brussels, annual spend (including staff costs, research, consultancy fees, trade associations we are members of, events etc), which policies we engage on, which public grants or contracts we have, etc. Every time I meet with an official above a certain rank it is registered and submitted -by them and us - to the Register. All this information is publicly available and is, of course, an interesting source of insights. Politico does a roundup of the most significant changes in €€ spend by company /sector.

There are incredibly strict compliance processes in my company. I don't do any meals with officials as every such lunch requires complex pre-approvals and cannot be above a certain (modest) amount, and then needs to be entered in the internal gifts and hospitality register. Gifts we give to stakeholders are at the level of a branded moleskin diary or a battery charger. This is fine for me, but for colleagues working in Asia this can be more challenging as there is a cultural expectation of eg giving mooncakes for the Chinese New Year. We can invite an official to our innovation centre but absolutely cannot contribute to their travel costs.

Why do civil servants and elected officials consult with industry, trade unions and civil society? They need to make sure regulations and policies work, they are fair, proportionate, easy to implement and do not cause unintended consequences. For every piece of legislation one of the most complex areas is how it fits with all the other laws. It's astonishing how often new laws duplicate or even contradict existing laws. Eg, the EU is in the process of finalising the first in the world AI rulebook. A lot of the debate has been on the areas where the AI Act overlaps with GDPR or sectoral regulations. Another hugely contentious area is the definition of AI (choosing between several existing international legitimate definitions). Both civil servants and Members of European Parliament recognise that it is impossible for them to foresee how every element of the regulation will impact every sector of economy and actively seek recommendations and case studies from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry.

As OP has mentioned, the work is very cerebral. You will only be listened to if you provide data-based evidence that also allows the government to deliver its priorities.

I have been very fortunate in that I never had to lobby for something that I disagree with.

Chapeau to the OP for starting the thread and responding with such grace! I

Lots of companies out there lobby government on behalf of different industries so OP is correct to say that. Most people would say they work in public affairs though

That's why they have memberships to trade bodies who do this for them...

I think OP is getting a lot of stick for a subject people don't really understand unless you work within this industry.

Sorry everyone I don't think I've been very clear. If I were talking to anyone in the industry or in government I'd describe myself as public affairs / corporate affairs / government affairs, and they know what I mean. I wouldn't use 'lobbyist' in that context.

I think these euphemisms have been developed because 'lobbyist' has so much baggage! But they don't necessarily mean much if you don't work in government or politics. So I use 'lobbyist' as cocktail party shorthand.

I do it knowing some people will react strongly (as they have on this thread, so fair enough) but most people are fine with it.

That's not quite what I said though. I wrote, "They lobby government so they can continue trading successfully" (and in turn provide access to good value food).

It's a fair point to say they lobby government in their own interests, and I wouldn't claim otherwise. But look at it another way: the public demands good quality public services. The government wants to be re-elected, so tries to provide them. That takes tax money. Private sector companies pay tens of billions of pounds of tax a year which helps fund those services (let alone employing tens of millions of people and doing other stuff that benefits society like providing essential services like food).

So any sensible government would want to create an environment where businesses can thrive. So the interests of the public, business and government can coincide. I'm not claiming they always do and there are plenty of problems in today's Britain. But I don't think the interests of UK plc and individual citizens are always as opposed as you might think.

I wrote about this a little upthread but happy to go into more detail if you like.

To be honest it's less about talent or brains and more about experience. MPs can't be experts in everything and very often they vote on laws that maybe they don't completely understand.

Where it gets a bit frustrating is lobbying Ministers. When a new Minister starts after a reshuffle they have a huge amount of policy detail to get their head around. Some are really diligent and do the reading but not all. So when you're trying to lobby them on something niche but important and you see them glaze over it's a bit disheartening.

For example, there have been fifteen housing ministers since 2010. It's a difficult, high-profile, technical brief. So I don't want to get into the housebuilding debate - but it's no wonder not enough are being built with that kind of turnover!

I think it would be helpful if lobbyists/ public affairs people had their own register of interests, as I know damn well it would be far more detailed and longer than that which is registered by the recipients of the hospitality / gifts. I have found that the more frequent the hospitality with a single entity (both above and below the single item threshold), the less likely it is to be declared by an MP, frequently because to do so would reveal a closer relationship with someone at the donor end than should exist.
as an in houser and esp in your sector, what % of your work is entertainment and pushing freebies? As a bonus - do you check what’s declared and do you ever follow up or stop inviting when you see a failure to declare?

There is a register of lobbyists called ORCL (Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists) - it's open and searchable. It'll tell you which consultancies lobby on behalf of which companies but I think the scope could be increased. It doesn't cover in-house lobbyists, for example.

I think the entertainment thing is a bit hackneyed, to be honest, and I don't really do it. It still goes on and some lobbyists seem to think it's effective. I'd be surprised if it wasn't declared though - any MP knows that they'd be given bad media coverage if they didn't. (I'm not denying it does happen though).

I’ve sat at the same table / drank behind velvet ropes with MPs frequently enough to know who declares and who doesn’t and there are persistent egregious offenders who dabble in your sector. The former bosses waltzed into lucrative private sector roles with their former drinking buddies. It’s not always to hide someone they’re sleeping with but unless my resource (theyworkforyou) is hopelessly incomplete, there is consistent under declaring from the same offenders.

It might be, I'm not sure. You should also check the register of MPs' interests:

https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-members-financial-interests/

Which is where twfy draws its data. Which you know, because you’re a lobbyist.

And i said, @nachdemregen that Tesco don’t want to trade successfully so they can give people access to cheap food. As a Corporation they don’t give two shiny shits about that. It is not their raison d’être. They do it to pay their shareholders. You are trying to put a glowy rose tinted gloss on what you do. Fair enough I guess, you’re PRing the PR. But it’s a very one sided view.

Im sure your tech firm has a similar agenda. Money. Not the good of mankind and you Are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

How easy or not is it to change from lobbying for one industry or company to another? I'm guessing not very if you need to have in depth understanding of the area you're working in maybe?

That's is rubbish. Elected reps meet with lobbyists / public affairs people all the time!!! Any time you see a photo in a local paper of them meeting a charity / union / trade body / GP that's the result of "lobbying".

I don't use twfy a lot, so I didn't know this. Thought it was just Hansard. Thanks for telling me!