Skip to content
openDemocracy
Subscribe

Lobbyists and corporate sponsors were everywhere at the Labour conference

It’s been clear for a while that Keir Starmer’s Labour is embracing big business. Its conference confirmed it

By Ruby Lott-Lavigna
Lobbyists and corporate sponsors were everywhere at the Labour conference
Labour conference made clear the party is embracing lobbying and big business | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Published:
Share

“God loves repentant sinners,” shadow health secretary Wes Streeting joked at a Labour Party Conference event this week.

He was responding to a question about Policy Exchange, the Tory-linked think tank that was hosting the talk, as well as others throughout the week. An unfazed Streeting welcomed its presence, saying he was glad to see it had come to the place where the “intellectual energy and ideas are”.

Policy Exchange was co-founded in 2002 by Michael Gove and has a close relationship with the Conservative government. But here it was in Liverpool, holding talks with Labour’s shadow cabinet.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us. Please check individual images for licensing details.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0