Jerusalem, January 27: As the British government has published proposals forcing lobbyist to be formally registered, the question which remains unanswered is “what happens to in-house pro-Israeli lobbyists?”
The British government’s proposed statutory register of lobbyists has already come under scathing attack for failing to secure healthy links between senior officials and lobbying firms.
The proposed “Introducing a Statutory Register of Lobbyist” defines lobbyists as “those who undertake lobbying activities on behalf of a third party client or whose employees conduct lobbying activities on behalf of a third party client.”
“Our initial proposal is that a register should include information about the names of individual lobbyists and lobbying firms and the names of their clients. In addition, we propose that the register should include whether a lobbyist was previously a Government Minister or a Senior Civil Servant. The Government does not propose that any information on meetings should be included in a register,” says the British government’s proposed reforms to lobbying industry’s governance.
Therefore, the proposals are carefully designed to exempt firms employing in-house lobbyists from being forced to register.
The in-house lobbyists, which are exempt from being forced to register, include Conservative Friends of Israel having Britain’s Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt and Foreign Secretary William Hague as its members.
Other in-house lobbyists are Labor Friends of Israel and Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel.
The loopholes in the reforms to the Britain’s lobbying industry gives the pro-Israeli lobbyists within the British establishment the opportunity to influence British MPs and ministers so that they would act on behalf of Israel.
This comes as the Seven Principles of Public Life clearly states that “Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organizations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties.”
Nevertheless, when David Cameron became the leader of the Conservative Party, he announced: “You need to know that if I become prime minister, Israel has a friend who will never turn his back on Israel.”
Upon taking the reins at No. 10, he confirmed Britain’s commitment to Israeli regime’s interests saying: “In me, you have a prime minister whose belief in Israel is indestructible… I want to be clear, we will always support Israel…”
The British government’s proposals for reforming the lobbyist industry have already been described as “nonsense” by the country’s campaigners. However, the loopholes left for pro-Israeli lobbyists further question the so-called reforms.
——Agencies