Skip to main content
Rules? What rules? The revolving door between government and business
The recent attempt to pretend that restrictions are really being placed on industry hiring government insiders as lobbyists and fixers is singularly unconvincing, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
Whitehall

THE latest Business Appointment Rules show the continued circulation of people from the Cabinet Office — the heart of government — to corporate lobbying.

The “Rules” are a half-hearted attempt to stop corporations getting influence when they hire government insiders.

When government staff — on what are called senior Civil Service grades 1 and 2 or SCS1 and SCS2 — leave departments, their new jobs have to be looked at under the Business Appointment Rules and agreed by the permanent secretary, the top official in the department.

Donate to the Fighting Fund
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
8 - Akshata Murty
Features / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Why is the Labour government so addicted to giving government jobs to Tories when it spent so long trying to oust them? In the hope the favour is returned the next time the Tories return to power, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
HELD IN CONTEMPT: Elbit has faced a long campaign of sabotag
Features / 4 April 2025
4 April 2025
Israel’s number one death dealer supplying the IDF in its murderous campaigns against the Palestinians is now actively wining and dining our military top brass, looking to flog its blood-soaked wares, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
DON’T BLAME CLAIMANTS: People take part in a protest outsi
Features / 28 March 2025
28 March 2025
Health Secretary Wes Streeting taking £53k from Tory-linked recruiter and outsourcer Peter Hearn’s OPD Group is a great example of how Labour’s rich donors shape policies targeting the poor – not their wealth, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
BLUE’S WHO? Maurice Glasman (left), who founded Blue Labou
Features / 21 March 2025
21 March 2025
A new book shows the group’s close links to Labour Together, which hoodwinked the party membership into voting for Starmer on fake left promises. SOLOMON HUGHES attempts to get some answers about what ‘Blue Labour’ actually stands for
Similar stories
clinic
Features / 13 March 2025
13 March 2025
Despite using female spokespeople for its campaigns against clinic buffer zones, ADF UK’s board consists entirely of men, with 80 per cent living outside Britain and most funding from its US parent, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
07/06/24 of Taylor Swift performing on stage during her Eras
Features / 7 February 2025
7 February 2025
They’re the problem it’s them: SOLOMON HUGHES on the freeloading flunkies of the Labour Party hoovering up VIP tickets to musical and sporting events
JL+JC
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
KS +
Features / 30 August 2024
30 August 2024
SOLOMON HUGHES delves into a consultancy that claims it 'grew out of the labour movement'