THE influence of big business and capitalists to use their economic power and political class connections to gain access to taxpayers money via a friendly government is nothing new. Recent revelations about procurement of Covid-19 related supplies is just the latest squalid example.

Housing Minister Robert Jenrick’s “favour” to dining pal and Tory Party donor Richard Desmond over a planning application which saved him £45 million in local tax that would have helped one of the most deprived local areas in the country.

But rewind to 1994 and thanks to investigative journalism the cash for questions scandal was exposed, showing the role played by professional lobbyists working on behalf of big business.

One of the top lobbyists then was Ian Greer Associates who were found to have bribed two Tory MPs to further the interests of the Harrods boss Mohamed Al-Fayed. The professional lobbying industry has been rapidly growing since the mid-1990s and in 2007 was estimated to be worth £1.9 billion, employing 14,000 people. Some MPs are approached over 100 times a week by lobbyists.

But lobbying doesn’t begin to cover the extent of corporate influence. More than ever the Tory Party is in thrall to the City, with over half its income from bankers and hedge fund and private equity financiers. Peers who have made six-figure donations have been rewarded with government jobs.

Since 1994 there have been various complaints by MPs about unacceptable lobbying and several police investigations. Current levels of lobbying are causing concern as is the revolving door by which industry professionals move rapidly between legislative and commercial roles in the same sectors, creating potential conflict of interest.

Ministers are making increasing use of special advisers (staff members employed by the minister personally, but paid for from the public purse) who are often selected from the related private-sector industries and have sometimes been criticised for engaging in campaigning while still on the government payroll or for moving directly between lobbying roles and the adviser role.

Dominic Cummings is just the latest gruesome incarnation of this system. In 2009 the House of Commons public administration select committee recommended creation of a statutory register of lobbying companies and activities (similar to the one required in the United States), but the government rejected that recommendation.

In 2014, Parliament passed the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act, requiring statutory registration of professional lobbyists. The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL) maintains the register as an independent statutory office. Before gaining legislative approval, the Bill, often referred to by the shorthand Lobbying Bill, attracted huge criticism.

The Electoral Commission admitted concerns over the “significant regulatory uncertainty” for businesses and charities. The Labour Party claimed during the Bill’s third reading that the legislation “seeks to silence critics of the government in the run-up to the general election, while letting vested interests operate out of sight” and was “an object lesson in how not to legislate.” The charities Oxfam and the Royal British Legion were similarly underwhelmed.

During the second reading in the House of Commons, on September 3, 2013, much criticism was made of the Bill. Some Members of Parliament referred to it as a gagging Bill and others called it “risible and misconceived” and said that it amounted to a “full-frontal attack on members of society.”

The National Council of Voluntary Organisations strongly opposed the Bill; and a number of charities and other campaigning groups joined in opposition, including Action for Blind People, Action for Children, the British Heart Foundation, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Countryside Alliance, Guide Dogs, Islamic Relief UK, Hope not Hate, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, the Royal British Legion, the RSPB and the Salvation Army.

Small community-facing charities, trades unions and voluntary organisations have discovered that this pernicious legislation has increased bureaucracy, costs and time that takes them away from their core mission to help those in need of support.

This tawdry piece of legislation includes powers to police union membership lists, cut union spending in election campaigns and making it hard to call flawless strike ballots. It is a direct attack on Labour funding.

But the law is a handy veneer of legitimacy for the wealthy corporate lobbyists acting as the go-betweens enabling privileged access to ministers for big business.

There is a well trodden path for ex-ministers to then seamlessly move out of elected office into a lucrative job in a company boardroom which had links to their ministerial portfolio.

Before he became prime minister, Cameron predicted that secret corporate lobbying was the next big scandal waiting to happen, adding: “We all know how it works.” As a former lobbyist himself, he certainly did — and still does.

Cameron’s own former election adviser, the Australian Lynton Crosby, is a lobbyist — for tobacco, alcohol, oil and gas companies. Which is why the former prime minister came under attack for dropping curbs on cigarette packaging and alcohol pricing. His party treasurer Peter Cruddas resigned after offering access to Cameron for a £250,000 party donation.

His defence secretary, Liam Fox, resigned over his relationship with the lobbyist Adam Werritty. A few weeks ago Fox was nominated by Boris Johnson as a candidate for the role of director-general of the World Trade Organisation.