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The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Parliament revised its regulations in September 2023 to include all MEPs and their helpers in the transparency standards. This may help to explain the rise in the number of meetings, as they are required to disclose the specifics of each planned meeting with lobbyists. However, it also makes room for unofficial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
26 significant European corporations, including industry leaders like Airbus, Leonardo, Thales, and Rheinmetall, are represented by ASD, together with 23 national associations. According to the most recent data available in the EU Transparency Register, the group spent between \u20ac300,000 and \u20ac399,999 lobbying the EU institutions in 2023 and hired nine part-time lobbyists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parliament revised its regulations in September 2023 to include all MEPs and their helpers in the transparency standards. This may help to explain the rise in the number of meetings, as they are required to disclose the specifics of each planned meeting with lobbyists. However, it also makes room for unofficial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) has hosted twelve meetings with MEPs thus far, compared to just two during the previous term. This is another noteworthy rise in contacts with EU officials in the Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 26 significant European corporations, including industry leaders like Airbus, Leonardo, Thales, and Rheinmetall, are represented by ASD, together with 23 national associations. According to the most recent data available in the EU Transparency Register, the group spent between \u20ac300,000 and \u20ac399,999 lobbying the EU institutions in 2023 and hired nine part-time lobbyists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parliament revised its regulations in September 2023 to include all MEPs and their helpers in the transparency standards. This may help to explain the rise in the number of meetings, as they are required to disclose the specifics of each planned meeting with lobbyists. However, it also makes room for unofficial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
To discuss the future of European defense, the implementation of the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), and the development of a robust European defence sector, for instance, RTX, a US aerospace and defence manufacturer, has arranged ten meetings with industry and security and defence committee members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) has hosted twelve meetings with MEPs thus far, compared to just two during the previous term. This is another noteworthy rise in contacts with EU officials in the Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 26 significant European corporations, including industry leaders like Airbus, Leonardo, Thales, and Rheinmetall, are represented by ASD, together with 23 national associations. According to the most recent data available in the EU Transparency Register, the group spent between \u20ac300,000 and \u20ac399,999 lobbying the EU institutions in 2023 and hired nine part-time lobbyists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parliament revised its regulations in September 2023 to include all MEPs and their helpers in the transparency standards. This may help to explain the rise in the number of meetings, as they are required to disclose the specifics of each planned meeting with lobbyists. However, it also makes room for unofficial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Due in part to significant increases in their lobbying expenditures, certain interest groups have also demonstrated a greater presence in the Parliament than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To discuss the future of European defense, the implementation of the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), and the development of a robust European defence sector, for instance, RTX, a US aerospace and defence manufacturer, has arranged ten meetings with industry and security and defence committee members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) has hosted twelve meetings with MEPs thus far, compared to just two during the previous term. This is another noteworthy rise in contacts with EU officials in the Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 26 significant European corporations, including industry leaders like Airbus, Leonardo, Thales, and Rheinmetall, are represented by ASD, together with 23 national associations. According to the most recent data available in the EU Transparency Register, the group spent between \u20ac300,000 and \u20ac399,999 lobbying the EU institutions in 2023 and hired nine part-time lobbyists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parliament revised its regulations in September 2023 to include all MEPs and their helpers in the transparency standards. This may help to explain the rise in the number of meetings, as they are required to disclose the specifics of each planned meeting with lobbyists. However, it also makes room for unofficial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
As reported by <\/a>Transparency International, with an impressive 55 meetings over the last year, German MEPs were the most active in defense negotiations. Bulgaria came in second with 19, followed by the Czech Republic with 7, Poland and Latvia with 6, Spain with 15, Finland with 10, Italy and Denmark with 9 each, and Finland with 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Due in part to significant increases in their lobbying expenditures, certain interest groups have also demonstrated a greater presence in the Parliament than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To discuss the future of European defense, the implementation of the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), and the development of a robust European defence sector, for instance, RTX, a US aerospace and defence manufacturer, has arranged ten meetings with industry and security and defence committee members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) has hosted twelve meetings with MEPs thus far, compared to just two during the previous term. This is another noteworthy rise in contacts with EU officials in the Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 26 significant European corporations, including industry leaders like Airbus, Leonardo, Thales, and Rheinmetall, are represented by ASD, together with 23 national associations. According to the most recent data available in the EU Transparency Register, the group spent between \u20ac300,000 and \u20ac399,999 lobbying the EU institutions in 2023 and hired nine part-time lobbyists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parliament revised its regulations in September 2023 to include all MEPs and their helpers in the transparency standards. This may help to explain the rise in the number of meetings, as they are required to disclose the specifics of each planned meeting with lobbyists. However, it also makes room for unofficial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
As reported by <\/a>Transparency International, with an impressive 55 meetings over the last year, German MEPs were the most active in defense negotiations. Bulgaria came in second with 19, followed by the Czech Republic with 7, Poland and Latvia with 6, Spain with 15, Finland with 10, Italy and Denmark with 9 each, and Finland with 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Due in part to significant increases in their lobbying expenditures, certain interest groups have also demonstrated a greater presence in the Parliament than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To discuss the future of European defense, the implementation of the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), and the development of a robust European defence sector, for instance, RTX, a US aerospace and defence manufacturer, has arranged ten meetings with industry and security and defence committee members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) has hosted twelve meetings with MEPs thus far, compared to just two during the previous term. This is another noteworthy rise in contacts with EU officials in the Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 26 significant European corporations, including industry leaders like Airbus, Leonardo, Thales, and Rheinmetall, are represented by ASD, together with 23 national associations. According to the most recent data available in the EU Transparency Register, the group spent between \u20ac300,000 and \u20ac399,999 lobbying the EU institutions in 2023 and hired nine part-time lobbyists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parliament revised its regulations in September 2023 to include all MEPs and their helpers in the transparency standards. This may help to explain the rise in the number of meetings, as they are required to disclose the specifics of each planned meeting with lobbyists. However, it also makes room for unofficial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, he served as the \"chairman\" and public face of the \"embryonic\" endeavor. According to Dannatt, the conversations with the US corporation<\/a> gained legitimacy because of his name and position. He stated that he had accepted the title even though there was \"no board to chair, no meetings to attend, or other business to conduct.\" \"I am not sure how else a retired four-star general who sits in the House of Lords could be described to the Americans,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Guardian reported in March that Dannatt had offered to arrange meetings with politicians for undercover reporters posing as business customers seeking to persuade the government, the House of Lords authorities have been looking into him. He was seen on camera claiming that he could introduce people in the government and that he would \"make a point of getting to know\" the minister in the best position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords commissioner for standards, the watchdog that examines allegations of misconduct in the upper house, is looking into him. Amid worries that their operations were not adequately monitored, the Lords' discussion project looked into the members of the House of Lords' business interests. It was discovered that 91 peers had received compensation for their political or policy assistance from for-profit businesses. Under freedom of information laws, the additional records pertaining to Dannatt's correspondence with the government in June 2022 were made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Former army chief Lord Dannatt lobbied ministers for hefty sums to back a private contract","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"former-army-chief-lord-dannatt-lobbied-ministers-for-hefty-sums-to-back-a-private-contract","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:13:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":6},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Brussels has seen a boom in defense-related lobbying since the European Parliament's new term began in June 2024. Lobbyists from consulting firms, trade associations, and defense companies organized 197 meetings between June 2024 and June 17, 2025. This is a significant rise over the 78 meetings that were held throughout the preceding five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As reported by <\/a>Transparency International, with an impressive 55 meetings over the last year, German MEPs were the most active in defense negotiations. Bulgaria came in second with 19, followed by the Czech Republic with 7, Poland and Latvia with 6, Spain with 15, Finland with 10, Italy and Denmark with 9 each, and Finland with 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Due in part to significant increases in their lobbying expenditures, certain interest groups have also demonstrated a greater presence in the Parliament than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To discuss the future of European defense, the implementation of the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), and the development of a robust European defence sector, for instance, RTX, a US aerospace and defence manufacturer, has arranged ten meetings with industry and security and defence committee members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) has hosted twelve meetings with MEPs thus far, compared to just two during the previous term. This is another noteworthy rise in contacts with EU officials in the Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 26 significant European corporations, including industry leaders like Airbus, Leonardo, Thales, and Rheinmetall, are represented by ASD, together with 23 national associations. According to the most recent data available in the EU Transparency Register, the group spent between \u20ac300,000 and \u20ac399,999 lobbying the EU institutions in 2023 and hired nine part-time lobbyists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parliament revised its regulations in September 2023 to include all MEPs and their helpers in the transparency standards. This may help to explain the rise in the number of meetings, as they are required to disclose the specifics of each planned meeting with lobbyists. However, it also makes room for unofficial meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the start of their mandate in June of last year, 90 MEPs, primarily from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the non-attached, and the far-right European Sovereign Nations (ESN) party, have failed to announce a single meeting.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New data shows defence sector ramping up lobbying efforts in EU Parliament","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-data-shows-defence-sector-ramping-up-lobbying-efforts-in-eu-parliament","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-28 10:15:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8083","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8076,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-23 18:19:07","post_content":"\n Major tech firms are supporting a lobbying effort <\/a>to ban US states from regulating AI models for ten years, a contentious move that has split the AI community and Donald Trump's Republican party. The Senate is being asked by lobbyists representing Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to prevent states from passing their own artificial intelligence-related legislation for ten years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's \"big and beautiful\" budget package, which included this clause. In order to approve the law before July 4, the Senate plans to unveil its own version this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On behalf of the members of the technological trade group, which include major corporations like Microsoft<\/a>, Amazon, Meta, and Google as well as smaller data<\/a>, energy, and infrastructure enterprises and legal firms, Chip Pickering, a former congressman and the CEO of INCOMPAS, is promoting this plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"For American leadership, this is the right policy at the right time,\" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Pickering told the Financial Times (FT). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"However, in terms of competition with China, it is equally important.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The AI Competition Center (AICC) was founded in 2024 by the industrial association INCOMPAS to influence lawmakers and authorities. As discussions over AI regulations heated up and the EU implemented a number of steps to regulate the industry, Amazon's cloud business and Meta joined the AICC subgroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big tech corporations' position, according to critics, is aimed at maintaining their lead in the competition to create artificial general intelligence, which is defined as models that are generally more intelligent than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican legislators and the technology industry are also divided over the planned ban, with some voicing worries about preventing states from monitoring strong technologies that may damage the economy and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proponents contend that the clause is required to avoid a patchwork of uneven regional regulations that may hinder innovation and push the US farther behind China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a Senate hearing last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that it would be \"catastrophic\" for the US to mandate that tech firms achieve specific standards, such safety and transparency, before launching their products. With the EU's new AI Act, this could soon be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Silicon Valley vies to produce ever-more-powerful models, proponents of AI safety, including Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, have cautioned that depending only on self-regulation may have catastrophic societal repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans who are advocating for the proposal's inclusion are looking into whether it conforms with the Senate's intricate regulations, which stipulate that each clause in a \"budget reconciliation\" package must have an effect on the budget. This strategy is being used by the party to pass the law without the support of Democrats.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Big tech lobbies to block state AI laws for 10 years","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"big-tech-lobbies-to-block-state-ai-laws-for-10-years","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-25 18:27:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=8076","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":8069,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_date_gmt":"2025-06-22 18:03:19","post_content":"\n According to records, a member of the House of Lords pushed the government to provide millions of pounds in funding for a business venture he was directing. For the second time, former British army commander Richard Dannatt could have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying, the Guardian revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House of Lords officials are currently looking into him for a different set of allegations after he was captured on camera while working undercover for the Guardian. According to the latest documents, Lord Dannatt personally persuaded a senior official and ministers to provide financial and political support to a business he was chairing that aimed to purchase a plant in Cheshire from a US owner in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt put more pressure on the government to assist after the owner declared they planned to close it. The cross-bench peer took three important stances. He first asked a minister he knew to put him in touch with the minister who would be in the greatest position to make the choice. He then emailed a public worker to request that they schedule a meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"I want to step in and take the conversation to a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Less than two weeks later, Dannatt met with Lee Rowley, the relevant business minister and the bid's CEO, to request government backing<\/a>. It is unclear if Dannatt broke the House of Lords' rules that forbid peers from influencing ministers and officials in return for money or other financial benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dannatt said he received no compensation for his interactions with the government. He said that since he thought it would benefit the nation and save employment, he assisted a buddy who was a prominent businessman in the consortium in trying to purchase the plant. \"To put it simply, I was assisting a friend in achieving a result that was highly beneficial to the country,\" he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, when he was chairing the venture, Dannatt was paid four times. He refused to disclose the amount he received, but referred to these as \"honorarium\" payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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