How political lobbying works – part 1

Despite the way it may appear, our politicians are not well paid by the standards of the corporate world that they legislate for. In the UK members of parliament receive approximately £65,000 per annum in salary with expenses to cover accommodation, travel, subsistence and the cost of running a constituency office, along with assorted other costs. The salary rises with seniority and number of committees the member is assigned to. To the average UK worker on approximately £23,000 per annum this seems an astronomical figure, but in terms of hours of work, pressure, responsibility and commitment the job of a member of parliament is not an average job. A closer comparison would be to a board level position in a large corporate operation, a position which would typically attract a stipend of closer to £150,000 per annum with a range of bonus options. Consequently, whatever the original motives for someone choosing to enter politics, it will always be the case that the corporate World is able to offer far more in terms of remuneration that politics ever can.

It would be nice to think that this is something that can be largely ignored by politicians, but it seems likely that this is not the case for a couple of reasons. Firstly, in order to go into politics, to successfully navigate the party political system, to achieve sufficient recognition within the party machine requires a strength of will and determination, as well as an aggression and drive that tends only to be found in the most ambitious. Secondly, in order to have the desire to enter politics, to deal with the loss of privacy, the impact on family, to accept the intimate scrutiny of the media and all of the implications of that, one would have to be extremely highly motivated to do so, either by raw ambition for power and position, or by some sense of purpose, some personal political mission, some cause that creates the necessary drive. Given these character traits it can be suggested that politicians are relatively easy targets for experienced corporate operatives and their lobbyist aides. Now don't get me wrong, there are all sorts of lobbyists, with all sorts of motivations, and here I am only considering those lobbyists funded by and representative of the corporate multinational business world. The world where nothing matters but the profit, and the rewards for shareholders.

The tools of the lobbyists trade are multiple in nature. They have the resources and backing to offer support for the politician in terms of access to the media, to financiers, and to the corporate system that underlies much of western life. They also offer that most precious of commodities, support, perhaps for the politicians favourite causes, or support in achieving political ends. The thing is that these tools come at a cost. That cost is a reciprocal agreement with the politician to provide the lobbyist with access to the corridors of power. This can be in the form of granting access to senior colleagues, giving insights into upcoming legislature and likely voting results, raising lobbyists points and questions in parliament all the way up to some lobbyists drafting and offering legislative amendments to politicians to be presented as their own. The role of the lobbyist is clear, to use whatever means necessary to gain an advantage for their commercial clients, whilst not pushing politicians too far towards breaking point.

It is a delicate balancing act, but one thing is certain. Between the ambitious character traits of politicians and the motivated position of corporate lobbyists the one group that is least represented in a democratic system of government is the group that at root provides the illusion of democracy, the voting public.