DLA Upstream

DLA Upstream is the lobbying branch of DLA. They gave more than £5,000 in sponsorship to the Labour Party in 1999-2000 and spent more than £5,000 on "Tickets for Dinners" in 2000-2001. Solomon Hughes reports:

Lobbying firms Citigate Westminster and DLA Upstream gave £5,450 and £6,000, respectively. Both confirmed these payments were for tickets at a Labour gala dinner. And both reneged on promises to Red Pepper that they would reveal which businessmen they took to mingle with government ministers. So much for transparency about donations to political parties. DLA admitted its donation was actually paid by its clients, but refused to name which ones. In effect, the lobbyist is acting as a political money-launderer - hiding the source of political donations from public view. R Griggs Group, the maker of Dr Martens boots and which recently announced it would be moving all its manufacturing out of the UK in search of cheaper labour, is one DLA client. Others include waste firm Onyx and the tax haven the Cayman Islands.^[1]

Clients

According to Kevin Craig, of DLA Upstream 'It works with NHS Trusts, American pharmaceutical companies in the UK and has worked with the BIA over the last two years'^[2]

• British Bankers' Association, Centrica and Standard Life. ^[3]
• Bioindustry Association particularly in relation to animal rights campaigns against animal testing. One of the Associations members is Huntingdon Life Sciences. Paul Gay of HLS records (January 21-28 2001):

Enormous thanks go to the BIA and other trade associations for their support and lobbying activity during this time.^[4]

People

• Tim Clement-Jones

Affiliations

• European Public Affairs Consultants Association, member.

Notes

1. ^ Solomon Hughes KNOW YOUR ENEMY Labour’s corporate backers, Red Pepper, July 2003
2. ^ PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES: HOW LOBBYING YOUR MP CAN HELP Kevin Craig, DLA Upstream, BIOINDUSTRY ASSOCIATION RISK MANAGEMENT SEMINAR, RISK AND REPUTATION: ANIMAL TESTING – MINIMISING RISK, 2 April 2001, Accessed March 2007.
3. ^ http://www.lawcareers.net/Information/LCNFocus/Detail.aspx?r=85
4. ^ THE IMPACT OF THIS ISSUE – EXPERIENCES AT HUNTINGDON Andrew Gay, Marketing Director, Huntingdon Life Sciences, BIOINDUSTRY ASSOCIATION RISK MANAGEMENT SEMINAR, RISK AND REPUTATION: ANIMAL TESTING – MINIMISING RISK, 2 April 2001, Accessed March 2007.