Thread by @allthecitizens

BREAKING: 10 British lobbying companies, each listed on the UK lobby register, have donated a total of £730,514 to the Conservative party - either directly or via their directors.

Two of them have won direct UK gov contracts worth at least £1,139,741. THREAD:

Following @allthecitizens / @BylineTimes previous reporting that half of all donations by lobbyists, since the register was established in 2015, went to the Tories, we expand that to include company directors, and pre-2015 donations to political parties:

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1384146299054817288?s=20

Hanover Communications won as much as £1,000,000 over 2 gov contracts (incl group award), they’ve also donated £51k to the Tories since 2010. Hanover are prolific lobbyists - clients include Microsoft, American Pharmaceutical Group, and Nexter Systems.

Previous clients of Hanover include Facebook, and the Premier League. Additionally, Thomas Lewington - a Director of the company - has donated almost £123k to the Conservative party since 2015.

CT Partners Ltd and CT Corp Advisory, (AKA CTF Partners), may not have directly won contracts but Director Mark Fullbrook has donated £25k to the Conservatives since 2015. Since 2011, CTF Partners has also donated £197k and boasts a long history of working with the party.

Avre Partnership’s director Simon Blagden donated £5k to the Tory party in Jan 2020. Avre have also donated £51.5k since 2020, including funds to Tory MPs Brandon Lewis and Liam Fox. Blagden is also a director of lobbyists at Larkspur International.

One of the directors of Thorncliffe Communications, Richard Patient, donated just over £5k to the Conservatives between 2006 - 2016. Patient was also one-time London director of Business for Britain.

Stonehaven Campaigns Limited won £139,741 in contracts over two awards (one listed for just £1) in 2018 and 2019. From 2019 to 2020, the group gave over £20k to the Conservative Party. A Director of Stonehaven is Peter Lyburn, who used to work with Lynton Crosby at the CT Group.

In 2010, Lyburn stood as Conservative candidate for one of the Tories' target seats: Perth and North Perthshire. He lost. So, a former Tory party candidate whose company is on the lobbyist register, not only donated, but benefited from gov contracts wins. dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/…

The Good Faith Partnership LLP have donated variously to Conservative MP Steve Double (£38,715), Lib Dem MP Tim Farron (£34,420), and Labour MP Kate Green (£59,610) from 2018 - 2020.

Invicta Public Affairs (Group) weren’t gov contract winners, but they gave, according to the Electoral Commission, £12,000 to the Conservative Party in 2018.

Lastly, New Century Media - the consultancy with deep connections to the Conservatives, donated £202k to the party between 2009 - 2020. The firm is run by ex-Ulster Unionist MP David Burnside. They represented the personal foundation of the controversial Russian Dmitry Firtash.

NCM also boast among their team Alex Nekrassov, son of deceased Putin advisor Alexander Nekrassov. In 2013, at a NCM event, then PM David Cameron was introduced to prominent Russians Vasily Shestakov and Andrei Kliamko, alongside Nekrassov and Burnside.
thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2014-0…

We’ve not included the fact PwC has won contracts worth £2bn, and donated £35,989 to the Conservative Party. Or that KPMG donated £137,845 to the Conservatives and also won contracts worth £5.35bn.

PwC and KPMG also donated to Labour and the LibDems. These consultancies deny they are lobbyists, despite appearing on the register.

We note as well that the Avre Partnership also donated £7,500 to the Lib Dems in 2015.

There’s no assertion any lobby companies acted illegally or improperly winning government contracts while registering to lobby on behalf of other companies, but @allthecitizens feels it is important all potential conflicts of interest are addressed in the name of transparency.