A challenge to Keir Starmer: publish details of all your meetings - walk the walk on ‘accountability’

Just today, Lisa Nandy has said the party will not introduce rent controls - after saying less than a year ago she would give local authorities the power to do just that. It came to light this week the party no longer plans to introduce a higher rate of tax on US tech giants, and earlier this month Starmer reportedly rang round energy bosses to reassure them he would not block pending North Sea oil and gas licences if elected, just days after seeming to pledge the opposite.

In politics, circumstances change. There’s no virtue in sticking doggedly to an idea whose time has passed, and these about-faces could well have been arrived at following careful reflection on what is best for the British people. Nothing more than that. In a healthy politics, one in which the public have faith that those in power have their best interests at heart, people would likely believe this to be the case.

But after 13-years of Tory sleaze, and 13-years before that of a Labour government which had more than its own share of scandals, the British public has every right to feel cynical.

And a cynic might be tempted to ask: did Labour come to the conclusion that rent controls are just a “sticking plaster” following discussions with one of their big-money donors, Lord Haughey, who has been highly critical of a rent freeze in Scotland? And is it mere coincidence that Labour’s decision to no longer raise taxes on tech giants like Google comes just a fortnight after the frontbench visited the firm’s lavish UK HQ? Does the vast lobbying power of the fossil fuel industry bear any responsibility for Labour’s mixed messages on gas & oil?

Politicians are always keen to stress that donors don’t buy influence when they hand over cash to political parties, or that hospitality and gifts from lobbyists certainly don’t afford them any sway. And true enough, there are wealthy individuals who feel strongly about politics and wish to put their cash up to help bring about the changes they want to see in the world - there’s nothing wrong with that, so long as it is all done transparently. But equally, ask any successful person in business whether they would shell out tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds without some expected return and most will have the same answer: ‘do I look like an idiot to you?’

One of the guiding principles of public life is that sunlight is the best disinfectant. The government’s transparency regime leaves much to be desired, but ministers and senior civil servants must publish records - albeit limited - from any meetings they have with outside parties. MPs must declare all earnings, donations and outside financial interests. This gives the public some insight at least into what goes on in the corridors of power.

This information enables us then to connect the dots; between public contracts and firms run by wealthy donors, from a company with interests in achieving a certain policy end, to an MP in their pay who raises the issue in parliament.

It makes sense that the governing party should be beholden to high standards of transparency. But in the position we’re now in, where many in the corporate world believe strongly that Labour will be in government before long, shouldn’t there be some requirement to know which powerful interests have the ear of the party which will soon hold the country’s reins?

Don’t laugh, but there was a time not so long ago when Labour under Ed Miliband believed it was on the cusp of government. In preparation, and as a means of demonstrating that they had nothing to hide, Miliband took the commendable step of publishing details of all his meetings with donors and media executives.

So if Labour wants to talk-the-talk on cleaning up Westminster sleaze after 13 years of Conservative rule, it should start walking-the-walk - before it enters government. Keir Starmer should publish details of all meetings between frontbenchers and external parties - donors, lobbyists, media executives and any one else who could conceivably stand to benefit from decisions taken by the man who is likely to be this country’s next Prime Minister.

A politician was right when he said not so long ago that “just because the Tories lose the public’s trust it doesn’t mean Labour simply inherits it”. In a speech last year laying out a “contract with the British people”, the Labour leader cited the Nolan principles, the seven principles for public life, which include accountability, openness and honesty.

This politician was right to suggest that trust must be earned. And one way to earn it, Keir, would be to prove you have nothing to hide.