This is what David Cameron said on Monday this week in a speech where he launched a scathing attack on lobbyists;
He said: ‘It's an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long...an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money. I'm talking about lobbying - and we all know how it works.Then today, just two days later top Tory MP Andrew Mackay, who was embroiled in the recent expenses scandal and faced having to repay to Parliament in excess of £31,000, has admitted he will be joining Burson-Marsteller after considering a number of agencies when he stands down at the forthcoming general election.
‘The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisers for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way. In this party, we believe in competition, not cronyism. We believe in market economics, not crony capitalism. So we must be the party that sorts all this out.
I am all for cleaning up politics and let's be honest, once again it was Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats who led this debate a year ago when Nick launched the Take Back Power campaign and now Cameron is trying to catch up and make it sound like it was his idea.
But David Cameron quite clearly does not carry his party with him.
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2 comments:
Indeed. He's (currently) my MP although not for much longer thank God. Actually, no, thanks to the two hundred or so people who turned up to the public meeting here in May last year.
Anyway, you have to ask yourself why Burson-Marsteller are willing to pay Mackay a reported six figure salary unless they expect him to have regular access to Cameron and his inner circle. Surely Cameron should rule out any access for Mackay at all in line with his recent pronouncements?
Look to the Lords - any Lib Dem members who are also invovled in the world of Government relations?
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