KEIR STARMER just hired Tim Allan as his new communications director. Until 2001, Allan was Tony Blair’s deputy comms director, working under Alastair Campbell, so Starmer is reaching backwards to New Labour for his latest “reset.”

But since 2001, Allan has been a corporate lobbyist, first for his own firm, Portland, and more recently for Strand Partners, a Tory-led lobbying company. So Starmer is also looking to the world of Conservative-friendly corporate influence peddling to “rebuild trust” in his government.

Strand Partners’ current clients include “gig economy” employer Uber, US artificial intelligence business ServiceNow, the company set up by Blair’s son Euan to exploit the government’s apprenticeship levy, Multiverse, and a firm selling weight loss drugs and programmes called Oviva, which upset some NHS boards with its “intensive” marketing to consumers.

Strand Partners was founded in 2021 by Nick Hargrave, a former adviser to Theresa May and David Cameron. Hargrave also spent a year working as “public affairs director” for Deliveroo. He is a Tory with a history representing companies that profit from “gig economy” workers.

Hargrave apparently likes hiring other Tories. Alex Boyd was a special adviser to Liz Truss when she was Prime Minister. Boyd was also a Truss special adviser when she was Trade and Foreign Secretary. Truss might be seen as a laughable character who became Prime Minister by accident for a humiliatingly short time, but that didn’t stop Strand Partners hiring her former aide as a director.

In 2023, Allan, having sold his own lobbying firm Portland, invested in Strand Partners and became a director, adding some Labour feeling to this Tory-origin company. Last September, Strand Partners also hired Catherine Bramwell, an adviser to Starmer up until the 2024 election, in his “preparation for government team.”

The Register of Ministers’ Hospitality shows Strand Partners took Science Minister Peter Kyle to dinner in June, so Strand Partners’ Labour outreach is certainly working.

Allan’s appointment and Kyle’s dinner show the world “team Starmer” inhabits. It’s a world where supposed differences between Labour and Tory matter a lot less than being part of the corporate-influence club.

Apella and the stench of Thames Water

CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves says she will “bolster” the Treasury’s “business expertise” by putting Jenny Scott — who runs a corporate PR firm that acts as lobbyists for financially challenged polluter Thames Water — on the Treasury Board.

I was working on this story a week ago, but the Times beat me to the punch by revealing the appointment. All the same, putting the boss of one of Thames Water’s lobbyists into a key Treasury position seems like such an obvious sign of Labour putting corporate needs way above popular sentiment that it is worth repeating here.

In August, Reeves announced she was appointing three new non-executive directors to the Treasury Board, including Jenny Scott, a partner at corporate PR firm Apella Partners.

Scott, previously a communications boss at the Bank of England, “co-founded and owns” Apella, which was set up in 2019. Reeves said Scott would “bring a huge amount of experience and fresh thinking” to the Treasury.

Apella’s current clients include Thames Water, a firm it has represented since January 2024. Thames Water is currently struggling with both massive debt and serious pollution, having spent huge amounts of money on dividends and debt instead of investing in water infrastructure. Thames Water wants the government to stop it from facing any more fines for its sewage spills.

Non-executive (part-time) Treasury directors are supposed to “help shape the strategic thinking of ministers and officials,” so the boss of Thames Water’s lobbyists is now in a key position to influence Reeves.

Scott’s Apella promises to help corporate clients “influence public policy” and “build a strong reputation with political stakeholders,” a job that looks a lot easier with her Treasury position.

Labour eyes up NHS privatisation

YOU can see the Labour right’s long-term enthusiasm for NHS privatisation and its effects by visiting some picket lines in London this week.

Around 600 scientists and technicians working for Health Service Laboratories (HSL) voted to strike for three days this week (September 3-5). London-based HSL does thousands of pathology tests for seven big NHS hospitals. However, it is a private company.

It describes itself as a “partnership” between British private health firm The Doctors Laboratory — which is in turn owned by Australian health company Sonic Healthcare — and two NHS hospitals, the Royal Free and University College London. Sonic are the majority owner, with the NHS hospitals as junior partners.

HSL made a big profit last year — £98 million — thanks to its NHS contracts. HSL does not use NHS pay scales, so the laboratory workers receive lower pay than they would if they were NHS staff.

HSL has taken on new contracts, expanding their workload, while junior staff say they are asked to do higher-grade work. The HSL workers, members of Unite, are going on strike for better pay and conditions.

But how did we end up with this NHS privatisation squeezing staff? HSL is chaired by Labour’s Lord Patrick Carter. Despite his long-term involvement with private health, Carter is very close to the Labour Party. He was best man at both of Jack Straw’s weddings and had many health advisory roles under the last Labour government.

Back in 2006, the then-Labour government got him to write a report on NHS pathology, which recommended the privatisation of pathology testing. Under Starmer and Streeting, Labour have reverted to the pro-privatisation policies of Blair.

There are all kinds of reasons behind this political shift, but it’s hard to miss the obvious clue. Their mates run the private health firms exploiting the NHS, so maybe one day they will work for these companies as well.

Follow Solomon Hughes on X @SolHughesWriter.