Lobbyists defend the 'dark arts'

The current government is more open to business than any since the 1980s, according to the managing director of one of the country's leading lobbying companies.

Peter Bingle from Bell Pottinger Public Affairs told MPs on Thursday he had "never known a government so willing to talk to and involve business".

He appeared in front of the Commons public administration committee, which is investigating lobbying practices.

Also giving evidence was Luther Pendragon lobbyist Mike Granatt, who stood down as spokesman for Commons Speaker Michael Martin last month saying he had been misled over expenses claimed by the Speaker's wife.

The two both defended the right of their employers not to disclose the identity of all their clients, a condition of the code of conduct of one of the industry's regulatory bodies, the Association of Professional Political Consultants.

Bingle argued that while his firm published "99.9 per cent" of its client base, there would always be some circumstances - such as when a number of companies was forming a consortium - where commercial confidentiality was necessary.

Regulation

He said that when speaking to ministers or civil servants, Bell Pottinger's staff would always identify who they were working for.

Bingle and Granatt both indicated that APPC members were getting round their commitment to the disclosure by, in Granatt's words, "splitting into two".

Any move to require all lobbying firms to disclose their clients would result in an unregulated, covert sector, he said.

Bingle said there was no "dark art" to lobbyists contacting ministers.

He said: "My view is that if one goes back to 1995 to now, one of the changes has been the links between business and government.

"This government has probably been the most open government I've known and I go back to 1981.

"I've never known a government so willing to talk to and involve business."

Speaker

Granatt, who acted as media adviser to the House of Commons Commission, chaired by Martin, resigned after telling reporters that taxi trips taken by the Mary Martin were "entirely in connection with household expenditure that supports the Speaker's duties".

He also insisted that she had always been accompanied by an "administrative official", which was later revealed to be the Speaker's housekeeper.

The former director of the Government Information Service refused to be drawn on who had misled him under questioning from MPs, saying only "it wasn't the Speaker and it wasn't, as was put to me, Mrs Martin".

He said he felt "very sad" about what had happened. Asked if he felt he had been betrayed, he said: "There are people who should not have let it happen, that is betrayal in a sense."

He later added: "I think the one mistake I made was believing that the standard of behaviour I'd enjoyed from colleagues in Whitehall for 25 years I'd also find elsewhere."