Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Follow the money – up to a point…
Sky News did well to investigate MPs’ links with a firm offering access to government insiders – for a fee. But it’s been less adept at unravelling the significance of their links to a host of health privateers, says SOLOMON HUGHES
Chris Skidmore MP was subject to a Sky News investigation

SKY NEWS announced it was “following the money” with in-depth reporting of the finance flowing around our MPs. It was a good start, but for all the graphs and databases, it kept following the money half way, then stopping. 

To take one small example, Public Policy Projects calls itself “an independent policy institute committed to global public policy reform.” 

But it isn’t independent: Public Policy Projects is funded by corporations, using the money to hire Tory MPs to help them influence government policy and public procurement.

Freudian urges 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Google
Features / 3 October 2025
3 October 2025

The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

TORY HIGH SOCIETY:  Sir John Ritblat
Features / 19 September 2025
19 September 2025

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he hosts a VJ Day commemorative reception in the garden of 10 Downing Street, London, August 14, 2025
Features / 5 September 2025
5 September 2025

Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of  Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

Defence Secretary John Healey (third left) and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu (second left) view a long-range air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missile, during a visit to MDBA in Hertfordshire, July 9, 2025
Features / 22 August 2025
22 August 2025

MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Similar stories
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves during a visit to
Features / 31 January 2025
31 January 2025
SOLOMON HUGHES examines how Labour has gone from blaming Tory deregulation for our economic woes to betting the nation's future on more of it
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to guests as he hosts
Features / 24 January 2025
24 January 2025
SOLOMON HUGHES reports on how a mega-wealthy hedge fund manager is dishing out cash to a ‘cringe’ Labour Party mediocrity with contempt for the voters
Elon Musk speaks at a campaign rally for Donald Trump in New
Editorial: / 4 December 2024
4 December 2024
QUO VADIS? James Lyons He made friends with the Labour right
Features / 24 October 2024
24 October 2024
By hiring a former TikTok PR man as its new head of comms, Labour shows that corporate wheeling and dealing rather than principled politics will be the party’s priority, says SOLOMON HUGHES