This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A leading member of a rightwing thinktank who took part in high-level Brexit compromise talks between Tory MPs and the government this week has a political consultancy which does not disclose its clients.

Shanker Singham owns a private firm, Competere, which has been advertised as offering clients advice on the opportunities arising from Brexit. He is also a senior adviser on Brexit to a lobbying firm, Grayling.

Singham declined to say who his clients were when asked by the Guardian. He has previously denied being a lobbyist.

On Monday, Singham attended a crucial meeting between the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, prominent members of the hard Brexit European Research Group (ERG), and two Conservative remain MPs.

The working group is attempting to break the deadlock over Theresa May’s withdrawal deal with the Malthouse compromise, which proposes negotiating a new Northern Irish protocol along with a free trade deal to replace May’s proposal. Civil servants facilitated the meeting with apparent approval from Downing Street.

Singham is seen as a key figure by hard Brexiters as they credit him with providing the intellectual basis for the economic arguments for leaving the EU. Critics have, however, dismissed his arguments, with one describing them as “an awful lot of bluster”.

He is a former Washington trade lawyer and lobbyist, who has been described by Michael Gove as the UK’s “leading expert on trade deals”. He has had multiple unminuted meetings with former Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) minister and anti-EU campaigner Steve Baker.

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Singham has been employed since March 2018 by the rightwing thinktank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), which does not declare its donors.

However, in parallel to his work at the IEA, he has since January 2016 been the “CEO and chair” of a company called Competere, which he owns.

Singham’s LinkedIn profile claims Competere “has successfully engaged governments around the world who seek to harness the power of the market economy through a comprehensive pro-competitive regulatory framework”.

In what appears to be an online advert for potential clients, Competere and two other firms offer “unrivalled expertise on US, EU, and UK trade and investment policy, and the ability to tailor our services to serve the needs of companies of all sizes and in multiple markets”.

The webpage continues: “We are ready to assist your firm in mitigating risk and creating opportunities as the UK exits from the European Union.”

Rightwing thinktank breached charity law by campaigning for hard Brexit Read more

A Competere spokesperson, who declined to identify the firm’s clients, said: “Shanker Singham was offering his 25 years of international trade policy experience to MPs and civil servants in his capacity as CEO of Competere as they work towards securing the best deal for jobs, trade and the economy when the UK departs the EU.”

Last May, Singham was recruited by the multinational firm, Huntsworth, to give advice on what it called the “knotty areas” of Brexit and trade. He primarily advises Grayling, the lobbying firm which Huntsworth owns.

Grayling chairman, Richard Jukes, said at the time: “There is no one better placed than Shanker to help our clients cut through the noise and articulate a considered position that stands up to scrutiny.”

Singham has previously said that he does not lobby for Grayling, adding his job was “a small part-time role in an advisory capacity only”. Grayling publishes its clients but other Huntsworth companies do not publish full lists. Grayling says Singham does not pass on confidential information.

Soon after he took the Grayling job, Singham quit a position on a committee of experts on trade at the Department for International Trade after officials reportedly decided there was a potential conflict of interest.

DExEU did not answer when asked if there were any arrangements to prevent a conflict of interest with Singham’s consultancies. The department said Barclay “with the support of officials, has been engaging in a series of meetings with MPs and others to explore alternative arrangements to the backstop. Mr Singham attended on the request of the MPs who were meeting the secretary of state.”

Two rightwing thinktanks have been ordered by the Charity Commission to stop promoting reports co-authored by Singham because the thinktanks were both deemed to have broken the rules on political campaigning.

• This article was amended on 8 February 2019. Singham’s role at the IEA commenced in March 2018, not March 2016 as an earlier version said.