When Theresa May made her first speech outside Number 10, her words were encouraging. “The Government I lead will be driven, not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours”, she promised. It was a good speech – you were naive like me, you might have even believed her.
Yet just two months later, Theresa May is continuing the Tory tradition and selling a private lunch with her and her cabinet. And just like that Cash for Access, a scandal that has blighted British democracy since the 1990s, is alive and thriving in May’s new government.
The lunch in question is part of the Conservative party’s “business day”, a tradition that begun under David Cameron whereby corporate executives – and anyone that can afford the price tag – pay to attend a lunch session with the Prime Minister and a dinner with the Chancellor during their party conference. It will come as a surprise to absolutely no one that the price of this meeting has gone up – from the bargain price of £1000 in its early years, to £3150 under Theresa May.
Tamasin Cave of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Spinwatch, criticised May for continuing “with politics as normal under David Cameron”.
“People do not trust establishment politicians on this issue of lobbying. She has a big problem on her hands, which she does not seem to understand,” she said.
Of course, there is something ironic about pledging to make a country work for the people, then offering your time to only the country’s most privileged members. Ironic, and undemocratic. In a country rife with corporate influence, offering UK corporations the chance to lobby politicians and influence agenda only serves to alienate the much of the population. Theresa May specifically addressed “working class families” in her speech, saying she understood that “life is much harder than many people in Westminster realise.” It will be difficult for those people to feel as if this government is on their side when it costs £3150 to have their opinions heard.
“We will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us”, vowed Theresa in June. Being part of the ‘every one of us’, presumably my invitation to a private lunch with the Prime Minister is winging its way towards me as I write this – but I won’t hold my breath.