Starmer’s absurd reaction to the Dyson lobbying ‘scandal’

In the midst of the David Cameron-Greensill lobbying scandal — a gift to the Labour party if ever there was one — Keir Starmer’s frontbench have managed to overshoot the mark. Talking up what she clearly hoped will be another storm for the government to weather, shadow business minister Lucy Powell had some strong words:

It stinks, really, that a billionaire businessman can text the Prime Minister and get an immediate response and apparently an immediate change in policy. It seems like the country only works for people who are rich enough or influential enough and, frankly, donors to the Tory party, who have the personal mobile number of the Prime Minister and Chancellor.

At PMQs, Starmer also weighed in, accusing Boris of being at the centre of a pattern of government ‘sleaze’. 

So what is this latest potential lobbying row? The reality is rather dull. In March 2020, as the Covid crisis first unfolded, Britain was short of ventilators.