‘The in-house magazine of the public affairs industry’
Daily Telegraph
Introduced by
EDITOR'S PICK
Good morning from the Editor-in-Chief, William Cash
LOBBYING IN THE LAST CHANCE SALOON
One of the more revealing questions The Mace has been asking public affairs leaders in an industry survey is: Both the CIPR and PRCA have recently called for industry reform. Do you agree, and if so, what changes would you support?
Reading through the responses, I’ve been surprised by the unequivocal tone of many of the replies, not least from agency founders and leaders.
A typical example came from Chris Rumfitt, founder of Field Consulting, who replied: “Absolutely. It is no coincidence that all the recent scandals cover agencies that do not publicly register their clients. That needs to be mandatory. And as for agencies employing Lords, I cannot believe it is even a conversation still.”
Indeed, several in-house heads of public affairs at leading FTSE companies, law firms and management consultancies chose not to answer the question as they are not required to list with the Register of Consultant Lobbyists. But the overall sense of industry responses that I’ve read is not so much that the government affairs community is not just “on notice” but in the last chance saloon as a result of the Mandelson, McSweeney and other lobbying scandals that have done little to improve the lobbyist stereotype of the political Svengali.
PROPPING UP THE TABLE
Which is exactly why I commissioned Alastair McCapra to write exclusively for us about how the newly formed Ethics and Integrity Commission has been instructed by the government to review Westminster’s Business Appointment Rules. These are the arrangements surrounding the publication of financial interests for ministers and senior government officials, and – most interestingly for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) – Westminster’s lobbying laws.
McCapra is a fearless, fascinating and paradoxical advocate figure in the industry, being both CEO of CIPR and one of the industry’s harshest critics, as well as being something of a Renaissance man. In his recent Leader in Public Affairs profile for us, he reveals to us that his favourite historical figures and writers include Voltaire, Bismarck, Edmund Dene Morel and Abu’l Alaa al-Maarri. I had to look the last two up. He also sings in his local choir, enjoys the company of his French bulldog, and “edits Wikipedia”. He has been rewatching the Netflix adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard and his favourite film is Zhang Yimou’s To Live.
Such eclectic tastes are not an obvious combination, but perhaps they reflect his own idiosyncratic career path that has led him to be the standard bearer for a new era of more transparent lobbying. By his own admission, he has “kind of wandered through life, enjoying reading as I went along”, rather than following a rigid career plan. That wandering path has nonetheless left him in a position where he is helping to shape how an entire profession sees itself – and how it is seen by others.
In his excoriating op-ed for us, which will be published in our next issue, alongside our special report on the Top 150 in-house public affairs leaders – out in the spring after the local elections – he twists the knife and states that the UK is “firmly rooted to the bottom of the transparency league table”.
“For too long British politics has accepted low public trust as fact of life rather than an ongoing policy failure,” he adds. “The fact is that if we lived in Canada, Ireland, Australia or many other countries, we’d know much more about who is trying to influence our government.”
SHOCK TACTICS
That the Patriach of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, was refused entry by Israeli police to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on his way to celebrate Mass on Palm Sunday rightly provoked international condemnation.
After being stopped, on spurious security grounds, the Italian cardinal and his companion were “compelled to turn back”. As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
As a former editor of the Catholic Herald, what struck me about this remarkable political incident is not just the roughshod political disregard for the sensibilities of billions of Catholics around the world who, during this Holy Week, look to Jerusalem as their spiritual rock.
But also how preventing the Patriarch of Jerusalem from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass on the crucible of the Catholic Church – built on the site of Golgotha itself – may also become a poor own goal by the Israelis. It shows a lack of understanding of how Donald Trump’s power base in the White House is composed of the sort of devout conservative Catholic lay leaders who will have been deeply offended by the Israeli forces preventing the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass.
BROTHERS IN ALMS
Key members of Trump’s powerful Catholic court include legal figures like the gold-watch fob wearing Leonard Leo, former chair of the Federalist Society, who helped secure several Catholic appointees to the Supreme Court - including Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh – and Tim Busch, founder of the Napa Institute, a leading California-based conservative religious think tank with deep pockets. Busch is one of America’s best-connected Catholic lobbyists and hosts an influential summer conference in Napa where Napa wines flow as guests listen to the likes of Vice President JD Vance and Mike Pence.
And let’s not forget Steve Bannon. Trump’s exiled former chief of staff is a devout Irish-American Catholic who – as he told The Mace in an exclusive when I met him at his Washington townhouse, known as “the Embassy” – prays every day in accordance with the spiritual exercises of Jesuit founder St Ignatius Loyola. Oh, and Trump’s wife, Melania, America’s First Lady, is also a practising Catholic who once said that her audience with Pope Francis was one of the most moving experiences of her life.
When many of these wealthy conservative Catholics jet in to the Eternal City later this month for the annual “America Week” – a Roman May Week - of fundraising dinners and parties it’s likely they will voice their displeasure – some to the Pope himself – at Israel’s attempt to prevent the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land celebrating Palm Sunday. This highlight of the US religious lobbying year – which I will be attending for The Mace – includes the Rector’s Dinner at the Pontifical North American College and CNEWA’s dinner on 15th April to honour Cardinal Dolan with the International Leadership Award as well as The Papal Foundation’s annual audience with the Holy Father. It costs a minimum of $1 million to join the latter if you are interested in having any influence over the future of the church.
The very last thing Trump can afford right now is to alienate his Catholic base in the run-up to the midterms, not least as 59% of America’s 70 million Catholics voted for him. I expect this diplomatic incident not to go away, and could be used as leverage for Trump rowing-back in his support for Israel.
PAPAL ATTRACTION
Last year, on 8 May, I was lucky enough to be in St Peter’s Square when the white smoke emerged signifying the election of the world’s first American pope, Pope Leo XIV. In the magazine, I have written a deep-dive report on American lobbying of the Vatican, called “Holy Orders”, looking at the key dramatis personae of Trump’s US Catholic court, and how a new breed of Catholic billionaire philanthropist is coming to the rescue of the Vatican’s bankrupt finances and also helping to rebuild Rome.
ST DONALD OF MAR-A-LAGO?
Word reaches us from the Vatican that in addition to seeking the Nobel Peace Prize – and having been honoured with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize – Donald Trump has now charged his US ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, with making overtures to Pope Leo about how The Don can be beatified as the world’s first living saint. Trump is claiming that his near-death assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania in 2024 is evidence of a miracle, which is required for beatification. Wonders may never cease.
EXPANDING OPERATIONS
It is five months since we published our agency-focused special report, The New Political Influencers: Top 100 UK Lobbyists. Download it here.
It includes our 30-page agency survey, (pages 59–91), with data-driven analysis by public affairs expert Sarah Richardson and insights from government affairs leaders.
Due to the demise of Global Counsel and the high level of recent industry churn, we have decided to publish our Top Political Consultants report twice a year, expanding it to cover the leading 150 lobbyists.
This updated 2026 report will be published – and launched at our summer party in Westminster – in conjunction with our first Top 150 Leaders in UK Public Affairs (in-house) index, a similar survey of in-house government affairs leaders and their teams, spanning FTSE companies and financial services to AI and big tech, logistics and transport, health and pharma, defence, retail and more.
In other words, our new updated 2026 public affairs agency report will be read by the heads of external/corporate affairs and in-house heads of public affairs whom agencies might be pitching to, working with, or want on their radar.
Entrant replies from both this new agency survey and our in-house leaders in public affairs report will help us draw up the lists of nominations for our inaugural Business of Politics Awards on 19 October at the RAC Club in Pall Mall. Both agencies, in-house public affairs and trade body and professional association leaders will be recognised. We will be announcing the list of judges and all categories shortly including such categories as ‘Leader in Political Risk’, ‘Best Political Party Public Affairs Team’ and ‘Best Special Adviser’.
WRITE FOR US
As a reader of the Westminster Wire, I would also like you to consider writing a thought-leadership piece for us, or – if you work for an agency, trade association or think-tank - pitching an op-ed written by a client’s CEO or Head of Public Affairs. The piece can cover any topical policy, regulatory or advocacy issue.
The piece could also focus on lobbying itself, as the collapse of GC and other Downing Street-related resignations has once again put the industry in the spotlight. After GC folded, as previously mentioned, I wrote a comment piece for the Telegraph asking: Is the golden age of lobbying over?
Please send ideas for op-ed pieces to me at william.cash@macemagazine.com
LET'S DO LUNCH
On 10 June, we are hosting a public affairs leaders’ lunch for our subscriber members at a private club in Westminster with Jann Schwarz, Global Head of Thought Leadership and Strategy at LinkedIn, who is flying in from New York to be our guest speaker. Jann – along with his LinkedIn colleague Mimi Turner, head of Market Innovation - will discuss how AI is transforming government affairs and how to use LinkedIn to “win in political business”.
If you’d like to learn more, email wendy.coumantaros@macemagazine.com
The Advocate: John Howie, MBE, Babcock
As geo-political risk spreads, sovereign defence has never been more important, says John Howie, Chief of Corporate Affairs at defence firm Babcock International. Read more >
The Strategist: Steve Bannon
In a Mace exclusive from DC, Trump’s former chief strategist reveals what he’s learnt from Thucydides. Read more >
Bob Blackman MP, chair of the 1922 Committee: ‘It is time to rebuild our party”. Read more >
From the Archive: How to ease Europe’s energy crisis
Back in 2021, Ryszard Czarnecki MEP wrote for The Mace about how energy disruption can be prevented if the EU opts for a common-sense approach. Read more >
What keeps you up at night?
“The direction this government is taking. History will not be kind to it.”
Andrew Griffith MP, Shadow Business and Trade Secretary. In his Mace Shadow Cabinet profile, the former boss of Sky reveals taking inspiration from Thatcher and Reagan, his love of dark skies and walking his dogs in Sussex. Read more >
Op-ed of the week:
Business rates are broken. Here is how we fix them
Commercial rates are not just a spreadsheet-style economic problem, they are destroying our high streets, writes Ros Morgan, Chief Executive of Heart of London Business Alliance. Read more >
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Editor's Note: You’re receiving this because you’ve appeared in, or been shortlisted for, one of our Westminster Indices – described by the Telegraph as ‘an influential Who’s Who’ of Westminster’; or written for us, come to an event of ours, have connected on social media, or else are on our radar as a Leading Individual working in politics, public affairs and strategic comms today. We did write to everybody and thanks for all the positive feedback.
Credits: copy editor Piers Martin, digital editor Oliver Dean, associate publisher Wendy Coumantaros, captain of IT Dan Colburn Smith, designer Cath Mackenzie, managing editor Emeila Wild and editorial assistant Madeline Dabbah.
