Revealed: ‘Alternative Irish border’ Brexit lobbyist in fresh conflict of interest row – Open Democracy

A controversial former lobbyist was reappointed to advise the British government on trade while continuing to work for undisclosed private clients, prompting concerns over conflict of interest.

Shanker Singham, who resigned from a similar role in 2018 after openDemocracy reported that he was also working for a commercial lobbying firm, was appointed to the Department for International Trades trade and agriculture commission in July.

Singham is reported to be in the running for all or part of a 200m government contract related to post-Brexit checks down the Irish Sea. Now evidence reviewed by openDemocracy and Source Material suggests that, as he returns to the Department for International Trade, he remains active as a lobbyist.

Singhams personal consultancy firm spent $20,000 on Democrat-aligned lobbyists in Washington to advocate for a US-UK free trade deal last year. The lobbyists helped broker a series of meetings in Washington for Singham and former Northern Irish first minister David Trimble, including with Congressman Richard Neal, head of the influential Ways and Means Committee that would greenlight a post-Brexit trade deal.

Neal is one of a number of Democrats who has voiced serious concerns about Boris Johnsons proposed changes to the protocol on the Northern Ireland border. On Wednesday, presidential nominee Joe Biden tweeted that any post-Brexit trade deal would be contingent on respecting the Good Friday Agreement.

Angus MacNeill, chairman of the parliamentary select committee on international trade, said of Singhams lobbying work: If hes been lobbying and there is money involved then all other commission members should know that. It shouldnt take journalists to dig up this information.

These relationships should be known and not hidden, the Scottish National Party MP added.

Singham is listed by the committee as representing Competere Ltd, the company he owns. Competere is not a lobbyist but a trade consultancy, he told SourceMaterial.

Singham said that his trip to Washington was a pro-bono mission paid for out of his own pocket. But David Trimble said he understood the trip to have been paid for by some conservatives, though he was unsure of the exact source of the money.

Dubbed the Brexiteers brain, Singham is a fellow at the Institute for Economic Affairs, a free-market think tank that takes money from undisclosed corporate clients. The charities regulator criticised Singhams previous work at the Legatum Institute for pro-Brexit bias.

In November, Singham and Trimble travelled to Washington for some jet-set diplomacy, aimed to smooth the path to a UK-US trade agreement by selling Boris Johnsons Brexit arrangements to wary US congressmen.

A key part of the DC charm offensive was making the case for the Northern Ireland protocol agreed between Johnson and the European Union which the prime minister himself is now rowing back on.

Singham has been one of the main advocates of the so-called alternative arrangements for the Irish border, a scheme backed by a number of Tory MPs and funded by a private company called Prosperity UK, owned by Brexit donor Paul Marshall.

In a single day in Washington, Singham and Trimble held almost a dozen meetings, mainly with Irish-American politicians on Capitol Hill. Smoothing the way was Transnational Strategy Group, a Washington DC-based lobbying firm that Singhams personal company paid $20,000 specifically to lobby for a US-UK Free Trade Agreement, according to documents filed in the US.

Among the meetings arranged by the US lobbyists - former Obama staffer Joel Rubin and Ari Mittelman, who had previously represented Libyan militias was one with Richard Neal, the Democrat chair of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, which would oversee any US-UK trade deal.

Singham and Trimble also met veteran Republican congressman Pete King, who had spoken in favour of the Irish Republican Army during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. After the meeting King tweeted that while he and Trimble didnt always agree in the past, they were on same page now about a UK-US free- trade deal.

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Revealed: 'Alternative Irish border' Brexit lobbyist in fresh conflict of interest row - Open Democracy