Dominic Raab has been roundly criticised after an openDemocracy investigation found that a meeting between the Tory prime ministerial hopeful and a lobbyist from a controversial think tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs, was not recorded in official transparency data.
The IEA, which does not disclose its funders, has previously come under fire for boasting that it could side-step transparency rules requiring ministers to declare meetings with lobbyists.
In May 2018, Raab, then a housing minister, and his treasury counterpart Liz Truss met with trade lobbyist Shanker Singham. Then in August, Truss had lunch with the think tank’s director, Mark Littlewood, at the Reform Club in London. None of these meetings were included on government transparency releases.
