Lobbying firms are paying a premium for political operatives with Labour expertise and contacts ahead of the UK general election, as public affairs executives say they are seeing a surfeit of Conservative staffers looking to “bail out” of government.
Several executives at some of the largest lobbying outfits in London said they had been trying to beef up their teams by hiring Labour insiders with up to date knowledge of the party’s internal mechanics and were willing to pay above-market prices for the small and dwindling pool of talent.
“Labour people are at a premium,” said one senior PR executive and former Tory adviser, adding that the biggest lobbying firms are offering salaries that are 10 to 20 per cent higher for people with strong ties to the party.
“Conservatives in the market are not being snapped up in the same way,” they added. Industry insiders said salary offers can range between £50,000 and £200,000 a year depending on the individual’s level of political seniority.
The scrabble to secure talent points to a wider shift in the labour market for lobbying outfits and professional services firms ahead of what polling suggests is likely to be a once-in-a-generation shift in the nexus of political power at the next election. The Tories are currently trailing Labour by around 20 points in opinion polls.
Executives in the sector note that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves have built a strong reputation as supporters of business — as Tony Blair did before his landslide victory in 1997 — making their staffers a particularly attractive proposition for corporate clients.
Just this week, the PR firm Flint Global announced a star hire — Sam White, Starmer’s former chief of staff, who will join as a ‘specialist partner’. Other appointments include Freddie Cook, a long serving aide to shadow technology minister Peter Kyle, who joined Hawthorn Advisors in February.
But with the reins of power feeling closer than at any point in the past 14 years, many Labour insiders are reluctant to leave the fray and are circumspect about offers from lobbying firms.
“If you are a pad [political adviser], and you’ve stuck it out, you can now sort of taste power, you’re almost there,” said a senior executive at one of the largest PR firms in the UK. “When do you want to cash that in? Is the power, the government, more attractive than doubling your money in the private sector?”
“It is a sellers’ market and the talent is rightly sceptical about agencies that are in the process of trying to metamorphose from being true blue to being light red,” added Jim Murphy, former leader of the Scottish Labour party who founded boutique PR firm Arden Strategies in 2017.
Others in the sector noted that more effective PR firms realise that being a good lobbyist is about more than just who you know.
Nick Faith, director of WPI Strategy, which has recently hired several influential Labour figures including Claire Ainsley, the party’s former director of policy, said hiring individuals for their “black book” alone would be pointless. “You need strong evidence-based arguments that stand up to Treasury scrutiny and which are politically realistic,” he said.
“There are plenty of grade D people passing themselves off as Grade A,” said one former Tory adviser turned consultant. “You can see plenty of snake oil . . . people who once occupied an office in Parliament four doors down from Keir, that doesn’t mean they are qualified for the job.”
When Labour swept to power under Blair in 1997, a spate of high profile advisers left for the private sector very soon after the election. Among them were influential staffers Jon Mendelsohn, Neal Lawson and Ben Lucas who set up LLM Communications in 1997. The now defunct company became embroiled in a major cash-for-access scandal the following year.
“They realised that was when they were most valuable,” said Jon Aarons, group director for strategic development at Rud Pedersen, a European PR firm that recently set up a London office.
Aarons said he had spoken with opposition staffers who said they were weighing up whether it was the right time to leave. “There’s some nervousness going on that they won’t all find jobs in the government,” he said. “Someone that’s a [political adviser] working for Rachel Reeves won’t necessarily be in her private office.”
Several Labour-oriented outfits have emerged since the party was ousted from government in 2010. Murphy’s Arden Strategies is one of a handful of consultancy firms that are seen by the industry as firmly attached to the party and recruiting from its benches.
Party grandee Lord Peter Mandelson, one of New Labour’s architects and still an influential figure under Starmer, established the advisory firm Global Counsel a few months after leaving government in 2010.
Meanwhile, firms are also fielding an influx of CVs from Conservative staffers and special advisers, many of whom are eager to make the leap to the private sector before they are pushed.
“There’s a surplus of people from one end of the spectrum who are spilling out of government,” said Aarons, noting that there was a question about how useful some of them would be if the government does change.
“I’ve been inundated with CVs from Tories, and people from the civil service who want to bail out,” he added.
“The most insane demands are coming from some of the outgoing Conservative special advisers,” added one consultant. “A lot of them expect more than the prime minister’s [£167,000] salary.”