Chapter 6 Lobbying.
So here we are, the election is to be held on the 4th July and I’ve reached the halfway point of my Chapters. Apologies for Chapter 5’s whiff of righteousness about Alcohol and Drugs and the wish to escape every day life. Chapter 6, however falls into place nicely ;as we most probably all want to escape at the moment. Which brings me to lobbying.
Currently, it feels that there is quite a lot being lobbed at us. Least of all Nigel Farage and the onward march of Right Wing influence in Europe. Until the election. I had quite forgotten about Nigel Farage, he was just another expenses fueled, politician and journalist with purely self serving motives of whipping up ill thought out policies and prejudices. A one man band , a self-made millionaire( an economic success) .Using his so called charisma on a certain element of the British Public that most people in the quite United Kingdom would rather ignore.( No one likes to believe that people can hate others quite so much.)
Still here we are and he has jumped on the bandwagon and became a Leader of a Party with the Orwellian name of “Reform” “.Horrifically , if Reform could host enough candidates , then within a few weeks old ship mate Nigel could be Prime Minister. The previous leader of Reform was pushed aside and Nigel took over for this election, because Nigel is a good lad and very good at lobbying.
Lobbying can be good or bad depending your point of view on what is being lobbied for. I suppose it’s another form of persuasion and has been used by many through the centuries to achieve their aims, whether it’s a Royal Court arranging an advantageous marriage in medieval times or following on from Francis Drakes introduction of tobacco , the cigarette industry pushing back at the lobbyists successfully arguing about the implications to people’s health of smoking tobacco.
Lobbying in the Houses of Parliament is rife and as and industry has grown over the last fifty years to such an extent, that for many it is a full time occupation. It probably does contribute a fair whack to the gross domestic product. So perhaps that is a benefit. How much has lobbying affected the Government decision making process to the detriment of the General Public? Quite a lot I would say.
We seem to have forgotten that our vote should be the first step in policy making, but it is most definitely not. We elect our representatives who may indeed be lobbyists themselves with their own interests or have lobbyist sponsors.
On getting a seat in Parliament they immediately begin representing the views of their sponsors or indeed their personal beliefs. Apart from booting them out at the next election, we have no influence on what they choose to say in Parliament or indeed in the way they use their influence by having a seat in Parliament. Are there checks in place, if so , they don’t seem to be used very often. Perhaps a commons committee has been examining them for the last decade.
Hence, increasingly we’ve had the scandals of MP’s and House of Lord’s representatives doing deals for favours or asking questions in Parliament or indeed arranging meetings with key ministers. Some of whom actually specified how much there efforts can be quantified in monetary terms per hour.
For two hours “work” , ten thousand pounds. Well great for GDP , if they spend it in the UK, but how about if the spend it on renovating their French holiday home. I suppose it’s helping the European economy.
Sadly, though lobbying has implications far beyond , grubby politicians lining their own pockets and handbags .Increasingly lobbying is a profession and a full-time occupation What happens when the lobbying interest is from another international government . Have you ever felt perhaps that “News” is a bit one sided , that you end up listening to European news stations to actually find out what is happening in the World. That is the power of the professional paid lobbyist. They can start World War Three if they want , or they can at least make everything feel more unstable.
Ever feel that the media doesn’t seem to be able to say as much as they used to particularly during election time. The interviews and the debates all seem so insipid. There are no facts, only rhetoric. It’s like it’s been sanitised or as I like to think lobbitised. Voter beware is all I say.
thenotsomightyom 