Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary, who now advises health companies, has been accused of trying to stall a parliamentary bill that proposes to expose lobbyists in Whitehall to greater scrutiny.



The Tory peer has tabled 30 amendments to a bill before the House of Lords that seeks to establish a new register for lobbyists who meet ministers, senior civil servants and special advisers.

Labour and transparency campaigners suspect there will not be time for a parliamentary committee to discuss the amendments, and that the changes are in effect an attempt to scupper the bill.

Lord Lansley has denied their claims, saying he wants to ensure that the bill enshrines current regulatory powers and protects those being regulated.

The lobbying (transparency) bill won support from across the Lords last month when it was introduced by the Labour peer Clive Brooke.

The proposed legislation would replace the government’s much-criticised lobbying register with one that would be far more comprehensive.

It would cover in-house lobbyists as well as agency lobbyists, and would be extended to cover meetings with senior civil servants and special advisers. At present, only meetings between agency lobbyists and ministers and permanent secretaries are recorded.

Lord Brooke told the Guardian: “It was obvious from Lord Lansley’s contribution at second reading that he doesn’t agree with the fundamentals of what I’ve proposed.

“While some of the tabled amendments look helpful, there are many others that would rip the heart out of the bill. And given the limited amount of time we’ve been allocated, it certainly feels like he’s trying scupper its passage.”



The House of Lords will now begin the process of line-by-line scrutiny of the bill at committee stage on Friday, before debating it again in a full session.

“If it goes beyond time then the chances of a second day are practically zero,” a Labour source said.

Lansley, who was also leader of the House of Commons, said his amendments were an attempt to improve the bill, not kill it.



“[The amendments] are not destructive of the bill, but in each case are designed to put back into the bill the powers for the regulator or the protections for those regulated which are necessary for an effective regulatory regime, and which would be abolished if the repeal of part 1 of the 2014 act went ahead,” he said.

“As you will see, many of the amendments reflect the 2014 act, but do not amend the wish of the new bill’s promoter to extend the scope of regulation to all lobbyists. This is, of course, what the legislative process is about: to debate and, if needed, amend it.”

Lansley, credited with being the architect of health reforms under David Cameron, was ennobled in August 2015 and has since taken on a number of roles as an adviser to corporate clients that have an interest in healthcare.

He is an adviser to the management consultancy Bain & Co, which has healthcare clients, and the subscription firm MAP BioPharma, and is an active associate of Low, a strategic consultancy set up by his wife, Sally Low, which specialises in “creating policy-rich events”.

He has also declared work as an adviser to Roche, the Swiss drugs company, and to the private equity firm Blackstone on investments in the health sector.

Roche has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the cancer drugs fund that Lansley set up in 2010 to pay for life-extending medicines that were considered by the NHS to be too expensive.

Six years ago Cameron predicted lobbying was the next big scandal waiting to happen after the MPs’ expenses furore.



The register of consultant lobbyists was launched last year after the passage into law in 2014 of the lobbying bill, derided as the “gagging bill” by critics who feared it would stifle the ability of charities and voluntary groups to criticise government policy.



Under the regulations, anyone lobbying on behalf of a third party has to sign up to the public register if they discuss policy, legislation or government contracts with a minister or the permanent secretary of a government department.



However, in-house lobbyists are not required to register and, besides a list of present and past clients, the register provides little or no detail on the frequency or content of communications with government, the subject or value of any lobbying contract, or whether an organisation has hired a former employee of the department the lobbyist is attempting to influence.

