In the first few days of the new government, public affairs agency Shearwater Global announced they’d hired former Labour Home Secretary Charles Clarke. Ex-Labour MP Holly Lynch was snapped up by Arden Strategies, the agency run by former Scottish Labour Leader Jim Murphy. Swathes of former political advisers and party comms staff have also found plum roles within the industry.

At other agencies, the revolving door has swung in the opposite direction, with a number of former lobbyists from agency and in-house teams now sitting on the green benches.

Among them is Chris Ward, a former adviser to now-Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who subsequently joined influential lobbying firm Hanbury in early 2022 to lead its “Labour Unit.”

Within days of Ward’s election victory, he was handed an influential role as Starmer’s parliamentary private secretary — acting as a key conduit between the prime minister and his backbench MPs.

Ready for battle

But while the wooing continues, an army of lobbyists is already gearing up for the first pitched battles of the new government over the glut of new legislation announced in last week’s king’s speech.

A revised football governance bill looks set to reignite hostilities — which had largely been on pause during the election campaign — between the Premier League, the Football Association and their respective lobbying agencies.