Chambré Public Affairs LLP
- lobbyist Will Chambre also spoke. Representing the Northern Ireland government Affairs Group, the lobbyists lobby group, Chambre was there to argue against transparency in defence of the lobbying industry. He seemed a little nervous and somewhat hesitant making his case – subverting the traditional image of the lobbyist as smooth talking salesman. Chambre undermined his case further his nerve wracked delivery of the message that it was the ‘quality of the message’ and not the ‘size of the back hander’ which was important in lobbying. Chambre learned his lobbying at the knee of one of the key fixers of the Westminster lobby scene – Doug Smith the conservative party member who runs All Party Parliamentary Groups and a string of lobby firms. [1]
Chambre Public Affairs do disclose their clients in the register of the APPC. But they don’t disclose how much they are paid by GlaxoSmithKline for example. Nor do they tell us the techniques they use. Do they for example use the third party technique in which respectable sounding organisations – such as patient groups for example – are used as a ventriloquists dummies to mouth the policy positions preferred by the corporation that funds them?
Or do they get involved in setting up fake front groups with names suggesting a disinterested approach such as institute of this or foundation for that? We simply don’t know that answer to either question but it is noticeable that along with the big pharma clients Chambre also works for a number of patient groups. Chambre do not disclose which pharma companies fund their patient group clients. According to company disclosures though, we can tell that Chambre works for:
- Sanofi Pasteur MSD who also fund the British Heart Foundation and Jo’s Trust both clients of Chambre[2]
- GlaxoSmithkline who fund the British Heart Foundation and Jo’s Trust both also clients[4]
- Boehringer Ingelheim who fund the British Heart Foundation also a client.
We have no means of knowing what the relationship is here – another reason why transparency is necessary. There is a further point which is that Chambre also work for Northern Health & Social Services Board which is responsible for both health and social care in the north of Northern Ireland. This leads to potential conflict of interest as both the patient groups and the pharma companies which pay Chambre have a vested interest in influencing the behaviour of the Board in relation to say Autism or mental health, both areas where Chambre clients have interests.
Contents
People
Affiliations
- Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, member[5]
- Northern Ireland Government Affairs Group, member
