Stephen Lotinga
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This article is part of the Lobbying Portal, a sunlight project from Spinwatch. |
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This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch. |
Stephen Lotinga is the former director of communications to the Liberal Democrats. He previously worked for the heavyweight lobbying firms Edelman (UK) and Bell Pottinger Public Affairs.
Contents
From lobbyist to government adviser
Lotinga started his career as a research assistant to the Liberal Democrat Tom Brake MP in 2005, before briefly working as a prevention policy support officer with the Youth Justice Board. In May 2006 he went back to the Lib Dems, first as a parliamentary researcher to Don Foster MP, then as a culture media and sport adviser and finally as a senior health adviser.[1]
After the 2010 general election, Lotinga took up a role as a director and then managing director of public affairs and partner of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs, and was later embroiled in a 'cash for access' sting at that agency.
In March 2014 he was appointed managing director of public affairs at Edelman.[1]
However just a month later in April 2014 Lotin was appointed director of communications to Nick Clegg.[2] There he joined former Bell Pottinger director Jonathan Oates and has since been joined by another former lobbyist, Ruwan Kodikara.[3]
His special adviser role earned Lotinga an annual salary of £105,000. [4]
Revolving Door
Mr Lotinga left his role as Director of Communications for the Deputy Prime Minister's Office in March of 2015.
Following this, in September 2015, he was appointed as Director of External Affairs and Strategy at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Given the nature of the position, the restriction on lobbying within 2 years of leaving office was waived so that he could liaise with government over public service complaints.
Affiliations
Education
- BA, Politics & Econmics, Keele University 2000 – 2003[1]
- Masters, Politics, Manchester University 2003 – 2004[1]
Resources
- Melissa Jones and Andy Rowell, Access all areas: Westminster's (vast) fracking lobby exposed, 29 April 2015.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Stephen Lotinga LinkedIn profile, accessed 9 January 2015
- ↑ Daniel Farey-Jones, Nick Clegg hires Edelman's Stephen Lotinga as director of comms, PR Week, 4 April 2014, accessed 9 January 2015
- ↑ David Singleton Clegg brings in another lobbyist Public Affairs News, 8 January 2015, accessed 9 January 2015
- ↑ Special advisers in post, 30 November 2014 GOV.UK, accessed 28 April 2015
