Full URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/register-of-consultant-lobbyists
Strategic Imperative
The Register of Consultant Lobbyists provides a list of third-party lobbying firms and, crucially, the clients they have lobbied for in each quarter. Its strategic value is in identifying the outsourced influencing efforts of our adversaries. When a company wants to influence policy without using its own name directly in meetings, it often hires a specialist consultancy. This register tells us who is hiring whom.
This platform is mission-critical for:
- Competitor Analysis: Discovering that a competitor has hired a high-powered lobbying firm is a “Simple Indicator” that they are preparing a major push to influence government policy in their favour. 111111111
- Informing our “Lobby Tools” Strategy: This register is a primary “Lobby Tool”. 2 It allows us to map the professional lobbying network, identifying which firms work for our adversaries and which might be available to us.
- Executing the “PTW (Political Time Window)” Doctrine: Identifying a flurry of new lobbying activity by a competitor can signal that a key government decision or consultation is imminent, allowing us to time our own intervention for maximum impact within that “Political Time Window”. 3333
- Supporting “Challenge Discrpower”: While not direct proof of impropriety, demonstrating that a company which benefited from a discretionary government decision had recently paid lobbyists to meet with that same department adds important context to a legal challenge. 4
Part I: The Search Platform’s Rules & Functionality
This platform is not a dynamic search database. It is an archive of official publications. Its use requires downloading and manually analyzing spreadsheet files.
- Publication Format: The Register is published quarterly as a downloadable spreadsheet file (CSV or ODS format). There is no online search form. All analysis is conducted offline within the downloaded file.
- Data Structure: The spreadsheet contains several key columns:
Name of consultant lobbyist: The name of the lobbying firm.Name(s) of client(s): The name of the company that paid for the lobbying. This is the most important data field for us.Period covered by return: The specific quarter the lobbying took place.
- Search Method: The only way to “search” the register is to:
- Download the spreadsheet for each quarter of interest.
- Open the file in a spreadsheet program (e.g., Microsoft Excel).
- Use the program’s “Filter” or “Find” (Ctrl+F) functions to search for keywords within the
Name(s) of client(s)column.
Part II: The COCOO Strategic Forensic Protocol
This protocol provides a systematic workflow for extracting intelligence from the quarterly register files.
Phase 1: Proactive & Reactive Monitoring
- Step 1.1: New Register Download: The moment a new quarterly register is published, it must be downloaded and archived in our system.
- Step 1.2: Adversary Watchlist Search: Immediately upon download, run a “Find” (Ctrl+F) search within the new spreadsheet for every company and parent company on our UK adversary watchlist. Any match is a significant intelligence finding.
- Step 1.3: Historical Baseline Analysis: To understand a target’s history, you must download the registers for the last 8-12 quarters and search for the target’s name across all files to identify their historical lobbying footprint.
Phase 2: The Influence Network Mapping Protocol
- Step 2.1: Identify the Client: When a search identifies a competitor in the
Name(s) of client(s)column, this is the primary finding. - Step 2.2: Identify the Lobbying Firm: Note the name of the lobbying firm they have hired from the
Name of consultant lobbyistcolumn. - Step 2.3: Reverse-Engineer the Lobbyist’s Network: Conduct a new search within the same spreadsheet for the lobbying firm’s name. This will generate a list of all their other clients for that quarter. This is crucial for two reasons:
- It reveals potential undeclared coalitions (if multiple competitors are all hiring the same lobbyist).
- It helps us understand the lobbying firm’s specialisms and political connections.
Phase 3: Intelligence Synthesis & Strategic Action
- Step 3.1: Correlate with Policy Events: Cross-reference the dates of the lobbying activity with the government’s policy calendar. Did our competitor hire a lobbyist in the quarter immediately preceding a major consultation on competition rules in their sector? This suggests they were attempting to influence the outcome.
- Step 3.2: Inform Counter-Lobbying: Knowing which lobbying firm an adversary uses is a tactical advantage. We can anticipate the arguments they are likely to make (based on the firm’s other clients and past work) and prepare our own counter-arguments for direct submission to the relevant government department.
Part III: Application to COCOO Doctrines
This model is designed to provide tactical intelligence that feeds our broader strategic plays.
| Mind Map Doctrine | Application of the Consultant Lobbyists Register Model |
| Lobby Tools | This register is a direct “Lobby Tool”, revealing the outsourced lobbying machinery of our adversaries and informing our own public affairs strategy. 5 |
| PTW (Political Time Window) | A sudden appearance of a competitor on this register is a strong signal that a “Political Time Window” is opening, prompting us to prepare our own intervention. 6666 |
| Benchmarking / Competitor Analysis | Discovering that a competitor is investing in third-party lobbying provides a key data point for our “Competitor Analysis”, indicating their level of seriousness about influencing policy. 7777 |
| Noisefilter | A competitor’s public statements on a policy issue are noise. The fact they are paying a lobbying firm, as recorded in this register, is a verifiable signal of their true intent and commitment. 8888 |
| Challenge Discrpower | This intelligence adds context to a challenge. We can state that a government decision which benefits a specific company was made following a period where that same company was paying lobbyists to influence the decision-making department. 9 |