Private sector lobbyists embedded in Labour’s shadow cabinet teams | Labour

More than a dozen private sector lobbyists and consultants have joined the shadow cabinet after Labour asked businesses to help shape its policy.

The party is understood to have made an appeal to private companies to send staff to help it with its policy work, particularly in complex areas such as artificial intelligence (AI).

One company, Faculty AI, told staff in an internal memo leaked to the Guardian that the Labour Party had asked it for expert advice and that it had changed its ethics rules to allow the staff member to work with the party for one or two days a week.

Other firms to send staff include FGS Global, whose clients include Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, who is bidding to take over Royal Mail. The PR and lobbying firm has a member of staff seconded to the office of Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor of the exchequer.

Reeves’ deputy, Darren Jones, also hired a staff member from Baring, a consultancy specialising in central government efficiency savings, and Arup, an engineering firm. Both seconded from the private sector were given parliamentary passes allowing them access to Westminster Estates.

The move to adopt delegations exposes Labour to criticism that its policies may be influenced by private sector interests. Momentum, a left-wing campaign group, said: “The role of lobbyists acting as delegates to develop policy raises serious questions about conflicts of interest distorting the priorities of the incoming Labour government. The shadow cabinet must ensure that policies are based on true Labour values ​​and democratic processes, not on big companies buying into inappropriate influence.”

However, the party said: “Labour is serious about growing our economy and taking advantage of the opportunities in the technology and finance sectors after 14 years of Tory chaos, decline and wasted opportunity,” a spokesman said. “We have standard secondment agreements which have been announced transparently in the usual way.” It is understood that not all secondees work on policy.

Faculty AI has an employee working in the office of Peter Kyle, the shadow science and technology secretary. The company is known for its work for the Vote Leave campaign, when it was hired by Dominic Cummings during the Brexit referendum, for which it was paid £114,000. It has also been awarded a coronavirus-related contract to collect and analyse tweets from UK citizens during the pandemic, which has alarmed privacy campaigners who say it amounts to mass surveillance.

After Faculty gained popularity in the Brexit campaign, it introduced a policy that the company would “not do party politics”, but this was changed to allow it to help the Labour Party with its AI policy work. The new policy is: “We do not do party politics (but will help with AI policy)”.

A leaked memorandum from the Department shows him justifying the decision to send a Labour Party employee to his staff by saying: “The Labour Party has asked for a Department employee to help shape AI policy as part of their programme for government. This is to help them if they are elected, not to help them get elected.

“Big consultancies often help governments preparing for the transition, but the fact that Labour is willing to work with a company of our size is a success and a testament to our people and the quality of our work.

“The work is already underway and (redacted) is working with the Labour Party 1-2 days a week. He may be there until the election and will draw on the wider expertise of the whole Department if required. The work is purely about policy development. However, this work may violate (unintentionally) a literal reading of our ethical principle of ‘We do not play party politics’ as previously stated.”

Another person, seconded from Global Counsel, the consultancy and lobbying firm founded by Peter Mandelson, worked for Tulip Siddiq, a shadow member of the Treasury.

Some staff have also been seconded from the Labour Together think tank, which is funded by donors Trevor Chinn and Martin Taylor, both well-known financiers.

Last year, The Guardian newspaper reported that an HSBC employee had been seconded to Jonathan Reynolds’ shadow business team despite the financial firm facing criticism for its links to China.

Graeme Swan, partner at Baringa, said: “Labor has asked the management consultancy market for support and we have responded.”

He added: “Baringa is working on a project that we hope makes sense in terms of the project outcomes. We have knowledge that political parties will find useful and we have also been able to talk to many other companies and get their views, which we hope will improve the final policy.

“Meanwhile, it made good business sense for us because it gave us access to a wide range of thinking from all the sources that the Labour Party was using – so as well as passing on information, we also learned a lot.”

An Arup spokesman said: “We provide advice to all major political parties in the UK, sharing knowledge and best practice to help address complex challenges such as achieving net zero emissions targets and building sustainable infrastructure.”