Bill Morgan

This article is part of the Lobbying Portal, a sunlight project from Spinwatch.

This article is part of the Health Portal project of Spinwatch.

Bill Morgan is a lobbyist and a former special adviser (policy) to UK Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley. He joined Lansley's office in July 2010, having previously worked as a director for Mandate Communications' specialist health practice.

Special adviser to UK health minister

Morgan and Lansley had already worked together between 2005 and 2007, when Morgan was a Tory adviser working on a wide range of Conservative health policies and assisting the shadow health secretary prepare for parliamentary questions.

Head of Mandate's health practice, Mike Birtwistle blogged on the appointment:

"Personally, I can think of no one better to advise the incoming Secretary of State. Bill has a sharp policy mind, allied to a clear instinct for politics and he is fiercely loyal to his bosses. These talents will be needed as Andrew Lansley seeks to steer the NHS through choppy financial waters whilst also embarking on a major programme of structural and system reform. Civil servants will have to get used to Bill scrutinising their figures and recommendations, but I have no doubt that the end result will be better as a result of it.

Clearly we will be sad to see Bill move on - he has been a great colleague and he will continue to be a good friend. Health Mandate's clients and our team of consultants have obviously benefitted from Bill's insights into the direction of Conservative policy. Now, as he prepares to take up a new role, we look forward to continuing to be at the heart of the major policy debates which will shape the future of the NHS."

Activities

Dealings with private sector

Pro-reform GPs are a key front in the public relations offensive behind UK health minister Lansley's health and social care bill, which is currently going through parliament. Internal emails obtained by Spinwatch revealed that in December 2010 Morgan was supplied with a list of friendly GPs by Kingsley Manning of leading healthcare consultancy firm Tribal Group. Tribal confirmed it was in discussions with some of the GPs on the list about future lucrative contracts. Manning's email to Morgan said:

“Further to our conversation, please find attached a list of GPs you may want to contact with respect to the launch of Consortia Pathfinders; we haven’t briefed them so somebody would need to talk to them before they were exposed to the press.”

Manning initially claimed that Tribal had “no discussions” with Lansley or his department about helping the government sell its bill. He admitted having dealings with Morgan but denied supplying tame GPs for the government’s spin campaign.

“We certainly wouldn’t do that, we are not in the business of acting as a voice piece for the government. There is significant merit in these reforms. But it is not Tribal’s policy to promote [them] on behalf of the government,” he said.

However, when told his email to Morgan had been released under freedom of information legislation, Manning claimed Morgan had requested the list, which he admitted may contain the names of GP pathfinder consortia with whom Tribal is in commercial discussions. Manning also conceded that the government’s campaign had so far failed to persuade most patients, NHS staff and suppliers of the case for reform.