“Identity-politics-obsessed”

My Dark Arts newsletter is back this week 🎟️It contains a rundown of the freebies accepted by Starmer's cabinet in the last 18 months, and asks what it is that donors hope to achieve by providing these gifts ❌There's also details on a "new" Labour MP who seems to have been

'Here's a fun one'

'To prevent a future Grenfell, the government needs to create something that doesn't exist: a government with the power and ability to separate itself from the construction industry and corporate lobbying, putting people before profit.'

Q: Who’s that stood between Starmer and Reeves in Downing Street yesterday? A: Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase Bankers are lobbying Labour heavily ahead of the budget to try and prevent any additional taxes on the sector

Which lobbyists are circling the Labour YIMBYs? Which new spad is a former lobbyist & now works in the same department they used to lobby? Which ex-spad went to 3 free breakfasts, 7 lunches, 4 dinners, 17 receptions + 22 events in 6 months? Answers👇 opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-…

The Labour Party 2024 Two candidates to chair select committee One is a former lobbyist who introduced arms firms to Rachel Reeves earlier this year One had a picture with a former Labour leader Guess which one is being targeted with snide briefings?

So it sounds like Reeves wanted to make the head of Peter Mandelson's lobbying firm Global Counsel a peer in order to make him investment minister - but he turned it down Global Counsel has represented Palantir, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Nestle, Drax, OpenAI and more

The great Bob Fulton has passed away this week at the age of 101. I only got to know him during the last decade of his life, and those years alone could fill up the pages of a wonderfully surreal biography. Bob was larger than life. 1/

“The total value of all the economic activity in the world is estimated at $105 trillion…. The value of the financial derivatives which arise from this activity – that’s the subsequent trading – is $667 trillion.” lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

I don’t think this prisons issue has been handled well, but I’m interested to know why people think someone is much more likely to reoffend if they’re released after carrying out 40% of their sentence rather than 50% - that can be a difference of a few days, a month or two maybe

Latest Dark Arts newsletter is out now for Substack subscribers (it's free!) Sign up below to find out about all the MPs who got elected with the help of lobbyists but didn't have to declare it thedarkarts.substack.com

From this week's newsletter...

30+ new Labour MPs got elected with the help of a lobbyist which represents a major arms firm, among others Parliamentary rules mean they didn't have to declare that support - so without Dark Arts you'd never have known. Worth a (free) subscription? opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-…

This UK International Investment Summit on 14 October will be v interesting. Expect talk of 'partnership', 'crowding in', 'derisking' etc But the decision to limit use of low cost public finance means international investors will have UK over a barrel. gov.uk/government/new…

British Labour Party grandee Peter Mandelson corrects the public record about his ownership of a stake in a PR firm after stating he had sold out of the business trib.al/HO6ilJQ

I’m now in Westminster and will remain here for a few days - drop me a line if you fancy a coffee/pint and lots of chat about lobbying