Alternet, John Dolan, 2/7/2008

Warmongerer and neocon Christopher Hitchens just noticed that waterboarding is torture!

Stop the presses! Christopher Hitchens just noticed that waterboarding is torture!

Hitchens announced the news like he'd brought it down from Mount Sinai, in a Vanity Fair article. "Believe me," he told a waiting nation, "it's torture." Well, yeah. It usually is, when it happens to you. When it happens to somebody else, it's "extreme interrogation." I thought everybody over the age of 5 knew that, but as usual, I misoverestimated the media. Hitchens' tame little torture session is the biggest S&M video on the web since "9½ Weeks."

Hitchens' video is totally fake -- there's even soft-rock background music playing on the video, better music than you usually get at the dentist's office, and his "interrogators" treat him more like a client getting a mud pack at a spa than a real suspect in Iraq. That makes it even more disgusting that Hitch caved in after only 11 seconds of having water poured over a towel on his face. Eleven seconds! Think about the timeline here: For five long years he supported this stuff when it was happening to other people. Once it happened to him, he needed exactly 11 seconds to see the light. 

The Washington Post, Joby Warrick, 1/7/2008

A former CIA operative who says he tried to warn the agency about faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs now contends that CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb.

The onetime undercover agent, who has been barred by the CIA from using his real name, filed a motion in federal court late Friday asking the government to declassify legal documents describing what he says was a deliberate suppression of findings on Iran that were contrary to agency views at the time.

The former operative alleged in a 2004 lawsuit that the CIA fired him after he repeatedly clashed with senior managers over his attempts to file reports that challenged the conventional wisdom about weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Key details of his claim have not been made public because they describe events the CIA deems secret.

Prague Daily Monitor, 30/6/2008

Prague, June 28 (CTK) - Czech ministers will take part in two-day media training courses and lectures on the EU by editors of Financial Times and Eliska Coolidge-Haskova, former assistant to five U.S. presidents, Michaela Jelinkova, spokeswoman for Deputy Prime Minister for EU Alexandr Vondra, told CTK Saturday.

The two-day seminar will be start at the Stirin Castle near Prague on July 10, Jelinkova said.

Advice will also be provided by Klaus Gretschmann, expert of the ministerial council on internal market questions, and Ivan Hodac who heads the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), one of the most influential lobbyists in Brussels. 

The Guardian, John Pilger, 2/7/2008  

Israel's treatment of an award-winning young Palestinian journalist is part of a terrible pattern

Two weeks ago, I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Awarded in memory of the great US war correspondent, the prize goes to journalists who expose establishment propaganda, or "official drivel", as Gellhorn called it. Mohammed shares the prize of £5,000 with Dahr Jamail. At 24, he is the youngest winner. His citation reads: "Every day, he reports from a war zone, where he is also a prisoner. His homeland, Gaza, is surrounded, starved, attacked, forgotten. He is a profoundly humane witness to one of the great injustices of our time. He is the voice of the voiceless." The eldest of eight, Mohammed has seen most of his siblings killed or wounded or maimed. An Israeli bulldozer crushed his home while the family were inside, seriously injuring his mother. And yet, says a former Dutch ambassador, Jan Wijenberg, "he is a moderating voice, urging Palestinian youth not to court hatred but seek peace with Israel".

PublicTechnology.net, 1/7/2008 

The Hill Times, Simon Doyle, 30/6/2008

After four years on the job, outgoing Lobbyists Registrar Michael Nelson heads into retirement and reflects on his time in office.

The chance of getting a conviction under the federal lobbying rules is slim, says Michael Nelson, Canada's outgoing federal lobbyists registrar.

In an outgoing interview with The Hill Times at his Albert Street office, Mr. Nelson, who has been registrar since July 2004, said there are several hurdles to clear before an investigation under the Lobbyists Registration Act can proceed to court, including an administrative review at the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists, an investigation by the RCMP, a decision by the Crown to prosecute, and specific legal tests along the way.

Public Affairs News, Ian Hall

The parliamentary committee investigating lobbying has wrapped up its evidence sessions with MPs divided over whether lobbying is a benign or malign influence on public life – and if regulation is needed.

The public administration select committee (PASC) inquiry held its eighth and final evidence session on 19 June. PASC chairman Tony Wright MP and his colleagues will now finalise a report to be sent to the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for cross-government policy on lobbying (see boxout at bottom of this story).
PASC members Charles Walker MP (Conservative) and Paul Flynn MP (Labour) have obviously juxtaposed views on the profession. The former has lamented the lack of a ‘smoking gun’ during the inquiry, while the
latter has been consistently sceptical about the industry.

The Guardian, Allyson Pollock,  1/7/2008

Read the small print: Lord Darzi's report paves the way for Labour to charge for NHS care

Lord Darzi, the unelected health minister, has signalled that Labour will continue to dismantle and privatise the NHS delivery system, its staff and services – handing taxpayers' funds to multinational companies, and remodelling the service along the lines of US healthcare.

It is all a far cry from their 1997 manifesto pledge: "Our fundamental purpose is simple but hugely important: to restore the NHS as a public service working cooperatively for patients not a commercial business driven by competition."

Markets introduce new costs that do not occur in integrated public services: billing, invoicing, marketing and profits. All these divert resources and funds away from the service, creating enormous inefficiency. So what is the government up to?

Darzi provides the clearest sign yet that Labour is planning to introduce charges for healthcare, crossing the final rubicon of NHS privatisation - its funding base.

The commercial sector, unlike NHS public services, has market freedoms that the public sector does not - the freedom to levy charges and restrict care, and to downgrade or deregulate staff terms and conditions. The commercial sector's first duty is to shareholders and risks must be managed either by reducing staff wages and terms, cherrypicking profitable patients and treatments, or by ensuring that it is not faced with the enormous costs of unpredictable care.

Co-payments and top-up insurance were alien terms a decade ago: they are direct imports from the US healthcare industry. Today they trip off ministers' tongues. Contrast this with the NHS Plan 2000, which stated that "user charges are unfair and inequitable in they increase the proportion of funding from the unhealthy, old and poor compared with the healthy, young and wealthy."

In theory, government cannot prevent the private sector from selling health insurance and top up services. In practice, the new providers of healthcare have seen the political unacceptability of introducing charges too early, although the boundaries between what is public and what is private are blurred.

So the Darzi report, instead of renouncing charges, paves the way for them. First, it trails the idea of a NHS constitution which will set out rights for care. In doing so it introduces the notion that there will no longer be NHS open-ended care according to need, following in the footsteps of NHS dentistry and long term care. The constitution reflects the current attempt to redefine NHS care into a basic minimum package. For example, in the newly privatised general practice agreements, the government has fragmented previously integrated services into core, additional and enhanced services. It has ended the open ended duty of care, and introduced the notion of time limits and defined entitlement. How long before the government allows the commercial sector to define a basic package of NHS care, beyond which everything else is paid for and charged for through top ups and co-payments? That, after all, is the American way.

The report also proposes introducing personal budgets. There is no logic to these because individual budgets pass risk down to the patient. But the idea, of a sort of portable voucher system, is a Republican one: patients can get so much care and top up and carry the risks.

Darzi does not renounce charges: "We will ensure that the programme fully supports the principles of the NHS as a comprehensive service, free at the point of use," he says. But this contrasts with the 1977 NHS Act, which says "services so provided shall be free of charge except in so far as the making and recovery of charges is expressly provided for by or under any enactment, whenever passed."

Labour has crossed its final Rubicon. The NHS Plan 2000 allowed the break-up and commercialisation of NHS services because the government claimed it didn't matter how services were delivered so long as they were publicly funded. Now tax-based funding is to be undermined, and that means an end to universal coverage.

Universal coverage is not discussed by Darzi, and nor is equitable redistribution on the basis of need. Instead most of his report is dedicated to quality. This is the American way. The US jusitifies the denial of care to 50 million of its people by focusing attention on quality of providers, not access or response to need.

The problem for the government is that no country has a for-profit sector delivering universal healthcare, and it has no evidence to support the policy of a market in healthcare. The Darzi report is simply a glib advertising campaign on behalf of the healthcare industry and a new generation of greedy healthcare entrepreneurs. What of the losers? The hidden hand of the market renders invisible the old, the poor, the chronically sick and the long-term disabled. But as the winners see their FTSE100 stocks rise, the English will know what it is not to have freedom from fear.

The New Yorker, Seymour M. Hersh, 7 July 2008

Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include gathering intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program.

Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” in the President’s war on terror, who may be captured or killed. But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials. Many of these activities are not specified in the new Finding, and some congressional leaders have had serious questions about their nature.

Under federal law, a Presidential Finding, which is highly classified, must be issued when a covert intelligence operation gets under way and, at a minimum, must be made known to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate and to the ranking members of their respective intelligence committees—the so-called Gang of Eight. Money for the operation can then be reprogrammed from previous appropriations, as needed, by the relevant congressional committees, which also can be briefed.

“The Finding was focussed on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” a person familiar with its contents said, and involved “working with opposition groups and passing money.” The Finding provided for a whole new range of activities in southern Iran and in the areas, in the east, where Baluchi political opposition is strong, he said.

Although some legislators were troubled by aspects of the Finding, and “there was a significant amount of high-level discussion” about it, according to the source familiar with it, the funding for the escalation was approved. In other words, some members of the Democratic leadership—Congress has been under Democratic control since the 2006 elections—were willing, in secret, to go along with the Administration in expanding covert activities directed at Iran, while the Party’s presumptive candidate for President, Barack Obama, has said that he favors direct talks and diplomacy.

The request for funding came in the same period in which the Administration was coming to terms with a National Intelligence Estimate, released in December, that concluded that Iran had halted its work on nuclear weapons in 2003. The Administration downplayed the significance of the N.I.E., and, while saying that it was committed to diplomacy, continued to emphasize that urgent action was essential to counter the Iranian nuclear threat. President Bush questioned the N.I.E.’s conclusions, and senior national-security officials, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, made similar statements. (So did Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee.) Meanwhile, the Administration also revived charges that the Iranian leadership has been involved in the killing of American soldiers in Iraq: both directly, by dispatching commando units into Iraq, and indirectly, by supplying materials used for roadside bombs and other lethal goods. (There have been questions about the accuracy of the claims; the Times, among others, has reported that “significant uncertainties remain about the extent of that involvement.”)

The  Telegraph, Toby Harnden, 30/6/2008

The White House has been reported to have secretly stepped up covert operations inside Iran with the aim of destablising its leadership.

The Age, Josh Gordon, 29/6/2008

A COMPANY that provides strategic political advice to the Prime Minister's office is also being paid by mining and energy companies to lobby the Government as it prepares to unveil its greenhouse strategy.

Hawker Britton, overwhelmingly made up of former Labor staffers and party insiders, is working for at least six companies that would be nervously watching the Government's emissions-trading deliberations.

The company's website says it has played a "central strategic role in every Australian state and federal election campaign since it was founded in 1997". It also has a "national alliance" with Labor's pollster of choice, UMR.

At issue is the question of whether existing greenhouse-intensive companies, such as power generators, will be granted free permits, and whether petrol will be included in the scheme.

Details of the lobby firm's client list were posted last week on the Government's new register of lobbyists, which will come into force from July 1.

Lobbying in Canberra has been frantic ahead of the release this Friday of a Government-commissioned report on emissions trading by economist Ross Garnaut. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong will soon release a green paper on the topic.

Hawker Britton's Canberra-based director, Simon Banks, was the chief-of-staff or deputy chief-of-staff for three Labor leaders, while its managing director, Bruce Hawker, was chief-of-staff for former NSW premier Bob Carr. It is lobbying on behalf of Heathgate Resources, operator of South Australia's Beverley uranium mine, Quasar Resources (an associate of Heathgate and US nuclear power company General Atomics), and Chinese aluminium company Chinalco.

Of 25 staff members listed on the company's website, all but four were former staffers or Labor Party insiders.

Shadow special minister of state Michael Ronaldson said Hawker Britton had a fortune riding on which emission-trading model the Government adopted.

"When Hawker Britton briefs (Mr) Rudd on polling and strategy on current issues like the emissions-trading scheme, which hat are they wearing?" Senator Ronaldson asked. "Their polling and strategy consultant's hat or their lobbyists-hoping-for-a-success-fee hat?"

But Mr Hawker said lobbyists were subject to far more scrutiny now than during the Howard years. "I would point out strongly the double standard in play here," he said.

Another lobbying firm, Government Relations Australia (GRA), employs Sandra Eccles, the wife of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's chief-of-staff, David Epstein, and its Adelaide-based director. GRA's clients include Bluescope Steel, Loy Yang Power, Mitsubishi Motors and Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group.

A spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said the lobbying code and register showed Mr Rudd's commitment to greater administrative transparency. "Registration will not confer a right of access by lobbyists," she said.

The Washington Independent, Matthew Blake, 25/6/2008

Report Details How One Company Sold the U.S. Soviet-Era Chinese Ammo

The Financial Times, 28/6/2008

The Independent, Andrew Grice, 27/6/2008

More than 30 members of the House of Lords employ staff who also work for lobbyists, companies or business trade groups, it has emerged.

MPs called for a crackdown to prevent peers employing as assistants people who also work for commercial interests because they receive security passes giving them privileged access to ministers, MPs and peers.

Robin Ashby, a defence industry lobbyist, was stripped of his House of Lords pass yesterday after The Independent disclosed he is employed by Baroness Harris of Richmond, a Liberal Democrat peer, as a research assistant. She withdrew the pass after Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, ordered that his party should not be associated with such practices.

A party spokesman said: "Baroness Harris recognises that in view of Mr Ashby's other commercial interests this arrangement is open to misinterpretation and she will therefore now withdraw Mr Ashby's pass."

A study of a new House of Lords staff list by The Independent found that nine peers employ public affairs consultants or lobbyists; 10 employ people who also work for groups representing business organisations and eight employ people who work directly for companies.

Some MPs believe the Lords' rules are too lax and that, with the Commons more alert to the dangers of "cash-for-access", the second chamber has been targeted by lobbyists to gain access to decision-makers.

Jennifer Bryant- Pearson, managing director of JBP Public Relations Ltd, is on the staff of Lord Gordon of Strathblane, a Labour peer. The firm's website says: "JBP has developed a strong track record in the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and retail sector, including food and drink products, pet products, cosmetics and retail outlets." JBP says it helps its clients to "influence national and European policy and legislation" and offers "contact programmes with members of all three UK-based parliaments and the European Parliament". Ms Bryant-Pearson declined to return telephone calls yesterday.

Some peers employ staff who also work for firms from which they receive payment themselves. Mark Bassett, head of public policy at Bupa, the independent health insurance firm, is employed by Lord Leitch, a Labour peer. Lord Leitch is non-executive chairman of Bupa.

The Labour peer Lord Howie of Troon is a publishing consultant to Parliamentary Perceptions Ltd, a Westminster-based consultancy providing political intelligence and events management. Its managing director Brian Smith is on his Lords staff.

The Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) said that its members should not employ people who have parliamentary passes. Not all the firms with access to Parliament have joined the association.

John Grogan, a Labour backbencher, said an inquiry by the Commons Public Administration Select Committee to report this autumn should consider whether the APPC's own rules are being enforced. "MPs and peers have a clear duty to ensure that passes are used exclusively for parliamentary work," he said.

Mr Ashby, chairman of Bergmans, told BBC Radio 4 that his pass had been withdrawn on the basis of "an inaccurate story" in The Independent – but did not explain what was inaccurate. He insisted that he had been "entirely honourable, straightforward and open". He said he spent half his time working for no payment on projects such as "welcome home" events for troops but his commercial activities were not dependent on his pass. Asked why the defence firms Lockheed and BAE Systems were listed on his company's website, he said it was "wrong", that he had "not seen it for some time" and would "review it". He added: "I think it is very sad that the House authorities have reacted in this way."

The Guardian, Jenny Percival, 26/6/2008

A peer said today that she will withdraw a parliamentary security pass from a defence industry lobbyist, whom she engaged as an adviser, because his role was "open to misinterpretation".

Liberal Democrat Baroness Harris of Richmond agreed to strip Robin Ashby of his pass after a list of the interests of peers' staff was published for the first time last night.

The publication of the list has revived a long-running controversy over whether lobbyists should be allowed to work for parliamentarians and to hold passes that give them privileged access to the Houses of Parliament.

Ashby, managing partner of public affairs company Bergmans Defence Consultancy, which numbers many major defence firms among its clients, insisted he never used his access to lobby ministers on their behalf.

However, a Liberal Democrat party spokesman said that although Ashby was given a pass to help him in his role as an adviser, Harris accepted that his commercial interests left the arrangement "open to misinterpretation".

Ashby, whose firm is based in Newcastle, said he worked in parliament two or three times a week but insisted he was not engaged in lobbying.

He said much of his activity was as the unpaid founder and director of the UK Defence Forum thinktank, including organising homecoming receptions for troops.

The only occasion on which he had used his access to politicians to push an interest was last year, as spokesman for 100,000 small shareholders in Northern Rock, he said.

"That's the only bit of lobbying I did in that way; is that a bad thing? I can do all the things I get remunerated for remotely, from outside parliament."

Ashby said later that "access to parliament is a basic right of anybody" and that his work in parliament had been "entirely honest, straightforward and open".

He told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "I think that it's very sad that the house authorities have reacted in this way. They have set a precedent which means that every person who works for any other organisation should have their passes withdrawn - all those who work for charities or for public affairs companies".

The Bergmans website - which features pictures of Ashby with leading politicians taken outside parliament - describes one of its roles as ensuring "issues like jobs, UK economic and industrial benefits and added value (including export potential) are fully understood by a wider audience, and so are accommodated".

Its says its communications team, headed by Ashby, is designated the "Green Team...after the colour of the leather in the House of Commons".

One major client is quoted praising "the capability and knowledge you bring in terms of contact with the specialist media and especially with MPs".

Ashby told the Press Association that he always declared his interests to ministers and others when he met them in parliament.

He conceded that most of the advice he provided to Harris, on police, security and defence issues, was done remotely.

He rejected suggestions she was paid a "regular" income from another of his firms, Great North News, and said she had only ever received a one-off payment for some "occasional journalism".

Bergmans also offers to submit freedom of information (FOI) requests on behalf of clients who fear doing so themselves "may prejudice their relationship with government, especially where the departments in which they are interested are also their potential customers".

Labour MP Tony Wright, who chairs the public administration committee which is conducting an inquiry into lobbying, told the Independent: "If lobbyists are getting parliamentary passes to ply their trade, and if lobbying companies are putting in FOI requests to conceal the identity of their clients, then these are issues of real concern that need attention."

The new list of peers' staff also reveals that Mike Bassett, head of public policy at health insurance company Bupa, works for Labour's Lord Leith, a non-executive chairman of Bupa.

NewsRoom Finland, 25/6/2008

The Federation of Finnish Financial Services said in a statement Wednesday it had named Piia-Noora Kauppi, a Euro-MP for the National Coalition party, its chief executive.

Ms Kauppi is to start in the new job at the beginning of next year.

"I have enjoyed working with financial affairs at the European Parliament very much," she said in the statement.

"Now in my new position I can make use of the experience gained from EU-level legislation on financial markets. The financial sector will play a more and more important role in the internal market in the future."

Ms Kauppi's career move means Eva-Riitta Siitonen, a former mayor of Helsinki, is to take over the seat in Brussels and Strasbourg.

The Vancouver Sun, Colin MacDonald, 25/6/2008

A centerpiece of the federal Conservative election campaign in 2005 was to raise the ethical standards for how the government of Canada conducts its business.

More than two years after Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced the Federal Accountability Act as his government's first piece of legislation, the much-touted changes to lobbying rules are due to come into effect on July 2.

How will the changes affect lobbyists' dealings with Ottawa?

The amended statute (now called the Lobbying Act) will replace the office of the registrar, who reported to the industry minister, with an independent office of the commissioner of lobbying who reports directly to Parliament. The commissioner will have increased investigative and reporting powers and additional enforcement tools to prosecute violations of the amended law.

The Lobbying Act builds upon the previous law, beefing up the penalties for violations by doubling the fines to $200,000 and increasing potential prison time to up to two years for serious violations of the law. In addition, the commissioner now has up to 10 years to lay charges for breaches of the act.

The definition of lobbying has not changed. It is defined as communicating with any public office-holder, for payment, in respect of development of any legislative proposal, the introduction, defeat or amendment of any bill or resolution, the making or amendment of any regulation, the development or amendment of any policy or program or the wording of any grant, contribution or other financial benefit. In addition, the definition of lobbying includes communicating in respect of the awarding of any contract for any client or the simple arranging of a meeting between a public office holder and another person.

The Lobbying Act defines three types of lobbyists -- consultant, in-house (corporations) and in-house (organizations.) The rules vary slightly for each type.

A consultant lobbyists is hired to communicate with a public-office holder on behalf of a client for a fee. This may be a professional lobbyist, but could also be any person, including a member of a board of directors, who, in the course of his or her work for a client, communicates with or arranges meetings with a public-office holder.

An in-house lobbyist (corporation) works as an employee for the company and communicates with the government on behalf of his or her employer. In-house lobbyists (organization) do the same for non-profit entities.

One of the most burdensome changes of the act is the requirement for monthly reporting of any arranged meetings with senior officials (known as designated public office-holders.) These include individuals at the assistant deputy minister level up to and including ministers and their staffs. The monthly reporting requirement is expected to generate significant new registrations, requiring many large organizations that have multiple contacts with the federal government to add compliance officers to ensure conformity with the new law.

Many feel that this new reporting obligation, along with the fact that such meetings will now become part of the public record, will create a communications chill between government officials who might feel sensitive about their names appearing too frequently on the public registry, and individuals, companies or not-for-profit organizations who want to keep their meetings confidential for legitimate competitive reasons.

There is now a prohibition on charging or paying a contingency fee, and registered lobbyists need to confirm that no contingency fee is being charged in the matter for which they have been retained.

The amended act also prohibits former designated public office-holders and former members of the PM's transition team from acting as consultant lobbyists for five years or carrying out lobbying activities on behalf of a company or organization as an employee after leaving the public service. Most other jurisdictions in Canada and the United States have one- to two-year restrictions on such post-government activities. Employers hoping to hire experienced former senior public servants will need to keep these restrictions in mind.

The most significant change from the previous law will likely be the increased investigative powers and the independence now conferred on the commissioner, which is expected to result in much closer scrutiny of lobbying activities. The recent high-profile investigations into alleged violations of British Columbia's Lobbyists Registration Act may well become the norm under the new federal act. Should this occur, it is likely to result in greater overall public scrutiny of all lobbying activities in all Canadian jurisdictions.

Colin MacDonald is a partner at the law firm of Borden Ladner Gervais.

The Times,  Sam Coates, 26/6/2008

Peers have given lobbyists and industry representatives unfettered access to the Houses of Parliament.

The first register of passes reveals that a series of companies have representatives who can gain access to Parliament, including BP, the Professional Footballers’ Association and BUPA.

The passes, intended to be used by secretaries and researchers, allow lobbyists to mingle with ministers and MPs, use the bars and restaurants to impress clients, gain access to the research services of the parliamentary library and avoid the lengthy security queues.

The disclosure comes nearly a year after The Times obtained a list under the Freedom of Information Act and revealed that some peers took money from companies whose employees were given passes.

Yesterday’s document revealed that Lord Leitch, a Labour peer who conducted a review on skills for Gordon Brown, gives a pass to the head of public policy at BUPA. Lord Leitch is the non-executive chairman of the company.

BBC News, Laurence Peter, 24/6/2008

The European Commission has defended its new voluntary register of lobbyists amid criticism from groups who say it is not transparent enough.

A day after its launch, the register had 42 lobbyists listed.

"The idea is that people adhere to principles and commit to increased transparency," said a spokeswoman for Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas.

An estimated 15,000 lobbyists seek to influence EU legislation. Critics want more regulation of their activities.

But the spokeswoman, Valerie Rampi, said lobbying in the EU was "radically different" from the United States, where there is a mandatory register of lobbyists, setting out funding for specific issues.

Ms Rampi told BBC News that the European Commission "gives subsidies, but it's not like a government giving contracts - there is no business money financing politics".

She said the number of groups registering on the commission's website had doubled in 24 hours, "and that's a good start".

Joint EU list planned

The European Parliament has called for a mandatory register of lobbyists covering not only the parliament itself, but also the Commission and the Council of Ministers, which together approve legislation.

The three legislative branches are setting up a joint working group to establish a common register, which the parliament hopes will be in place by the next European elections, in a year's time.

"We want a one-stop shop. Lobbyists will have to register only once and it will be de facto mandatory," Ms Rampi said.

She said MEPs were demanding that lobbyists obtain access badges to enter the parliament's premises - and that would oblige them to register on the joint list.

The commission's register sets out different financial disclosure requirements, depending on the nature of the lobby group.

Consultancy firms and law firms lobbying on behalf of others are expected to state their turnover related to lobbying of all EU institutions, based on their latest annual accounts.

But "in-house" lobbyists - including companies, professional associations and trade unions - can simply provide an estimate of the cost of their lobbying, which does not have to satisfy accountancy rules.

Non-governmental organisations and think-tanks have to publish their total budget and main sources of funding.

Lavish lobbying effort

The first to sign up to the commission's register was Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica. Its entry shows it spent 950,000 euros (£751,000; $1.5m) lobbying EU institutions in 2007.

Another early entry was that for Foratom, a nuclear industry association, which spent 1.6m euros on its EU lobbying last year.

The Greens-European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament was prominent among those calling for more transparency.

Greens spokesman Chris Coakley criticised the commission's failure to make the list mandatory, saying even those who did sign up "are aware there is no great scrutiny of their activities".

"There is no register of individual names - and that plays into the 'revolving doors' problem. You can't follow people who go from high-ranking public positions into lobbying, and conflicts of interest go unnoticed," he told BBC News.

He criticised the fact that industry groups "can just give a good faith estimate" of their spending on lobbying.

He said such a register ought to state clearly how much is spent on a particular issue, instead of presenting the data in different ways.

The Greens' criticisms were echoed by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency. It represents more than 160 groups, trade unions, academics and others pushing for greater disclosure by lobbyists.

The commission's register "is more of a token gesture for transparency than an actual step forward," said the alliance's Erik Wesselius.

The Independent, James Macintyre, 26/6/2008

'We'll ask the questions that you can't, without your fingerprints,' he tells clients

A senior arms lobbyist is gaining access to ministers, MPs and peers inside Parliament using a research assistant pass allotted to a member of the House of Lords who benefits financially from one of his companies, The Independent has learnt.

Robin Ashby, who is chairman of a defence consultancy firm that offers to ask questions of government on behalf of its clients "without your fingerprint being evident", includes among his acquaintances the Defence Secretary, the Chancellor and the Chief Whip.

Mr Ashby's firm, Bergmans, lobbies on behalf of more than a dozen large defence and aerospace companies including BAE Systems, Northern Defence Industries, UK Defence Forum, Boeing and Rolls-Royce, which has been criticised for its past links to the Burmese regime.

Mr Ashby's name features on an official staff list that was published by the House of Lords for the first time last night following pressure from media outlets including The Independent.

As Bergmans' key lobbyist, Mr Ashby enjoys unfettered access to the Palace of Westminster. With his pass, he can bring several colleagues or members of the public into Parliament's numerous entertainment venues, including the Lords' terrace bar overlooking the Thames where he "frequently" meets Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, and other ministers.

Mr Ashby can also use the pass, which is allotted to Baroness Harris of Richmond, to access the House of Commons library, which offers valuable research facilities at no cost.

Lady Harris is a Liberal Democrat whip and spokesman on the police and Northern Ireland. She receives a "regular" income from a separate company run by Mr Ashby, Great North News Service, for which the peer acts as an "adviser", according to her parliamentary declaration of financial interests. Meanwhile her "researcher" gains access to the Palace of Westminster's corridors of power and a string of top-level ministers.

As well as submitting Freedom of Information questions to government, Bergmans offers insider information about how the British Government works to a host of foreign countries including the Bahamas, Bahrain, the USA and Russia. On Bergmans' website, Mr Ashby is shown meeting, among others, Tony Blair, his former press secretary Alastair Campbell, the Chancellor Alistair Darling, the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, the Chief Whip Geoff Hoon and Mr Browne.

MPs have been required to supply full information about their staff since 1985, but members of the Lords were exempt from the rule until last night.

On his entry, Mr Ashby names Bergmans but describes it as "a research and public affairs consultancy that campaigns to urge MPs and peers to keep manifesto promises to hold a referendum on the EU Constitution/Lisbon Treaty". He does not mention its host of defence and arms clients.

Mr Ashby told The Independent that he felt "iffy" about whether or not he should have a pass, "because there is substantial potential for misunderstanding". "It is quite possible for you to make me look bad," he said.

Mr Ashby said his "primary" reason for holding a pass was to provide "security" advice to Lady Harris. She told The Independent that Mr Ashby "advises me from time to time but not that frequently". She added that if she wants advice, she can call on him. Lady Harris admitted that she "occasionally" contributed to the Great North News Service, run by Mr Ashby. She added that she takes "an interest" in defence matters.

Mr Ashby said he "compartmentalises" his roles while in Parliament. "I am very clear with ministers – I informally declare my interests to senior ministers," he said. He added that he did not use his pass to bring clients into Parliament and photos taken of him with ministers were taken outside the Palace of Westminster. The lobbyist said he frequently met the Defence Secretary at events on the parliamentary terrace. "I see Des Browne every time we have a welcome home for troops and he says nice things about me. He appreciates what I've done," Mr Ashby said.

The services offered by Bergmans – which has a specific defence subsidiary run by Mr Ashby – include: "Opinion polling, focus groups, fundraising advice, governance, manifesto writing, socio-economic research, campaigning, visual images, and lobbying." But, the company's website adds, "many organisations are concerned that by asking for information they may prejudice their relationship with government, especially where the departments in which they are interested are also their potential customers.

"Bergmans Research therefore offers a confidential FoI [Freedom of Information] service – we'll ask the questions ... that you can't, without your 'fingerprint' being evident. In the past few months we've asked and had answers to questions about planning studies, past purchasing decisions, advice to Ministers, future plans."

Mr Ashby is also founder and head of the UK Defence Forum, which organises meetings between industry executives, civil servants and politicians, including Lady Harris. Mr Ashby provides secretarial services for the Royal Navy All Party Group in Parliament. Lady Harris is not a member of the group.

The latest recommendation from the Parliamentary Committee on Standards and Privileges states: "[The] interpretation of the 'ultimate client' rule should be amended. In future, where a Group is assisted by an outside consultancy, the names of any clients of the consultancy with a direct interest in the work of the Group should be listed in the Register."

The Labour MP Tony Wright, chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into lobbying, said: "If lobbyists are getting parliamentary passes to ply their trade, and if lobbying companies are putting in FOI requests to conceal the identity of their clients, then these are issues of real concern that need attention."

The key players

Baroness Harris of Richmond, Liberal Democrat Peer

Angela Harris first met Robin Ashby when she was on North Yorkshire's county council between 1981 and 2001. While chairman between 1991 and 1992, she was impressed by the media skills of Mr Ashby, who acted as press officer to the council. Lady Harris went on to serve as chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Authority from 1994 to 2001. During that time, she decided to stand for the Liberal Democrats in the 1999 European elections. After failing to get elected, she was appointed a life peer for the party the same year. Lady Harris now serves as a whip in the Lords, and speaks on police and Northern Ireland issues. She was born in Lancashire in 1944 and was educated at Canon Slade Grammar School in Bolton. Lady Harris is married, with one son from a previous marriage.

Robin Ashby, Lobbyist

Robin Ashby is not afraid to be described as a friend to the political stars. Asked to confirm he met "the cream of New Labour" last night, he was quick to add, "and the cream of the New Tories, and occasionally even the Liberal Democrats".

A graduate engineer with a finance background, Mr Ashby worked for British Steel and Middlesbrough Borough Council before joining Bergmans – "the longest established public relations consultancy in Newcastle" – in 1981. In 1992, he became its managing partner. Now a "player" around Westminster, he says he was advised by police to get a pass "because you're here so often".

The lobbyist describes Baroness Harris as a friend whom he has known "for the thicker end of 25 years". Lively in manner and keen to network, Mr Ashby describes himself as a "frequent writer and speaker on crisis management".