Rebranding effort abroad – but elections leave country unmoved

In some respects, the rules are clear. An MP who earns money outside Parliament which relates in any way to his status as an elected member of the legislature has to make a declaration. In writing. In a register that is regularly updated. There are penalties for those who do not comply. The boastful comments of Tim Collins, managing director of Bell Pottinger, as recently revealed in The Independent, might suggest that professional lobbyists, in contrast, live in a world where no rules apply. But that is not so.

Dozens of MPs who left the Commons at the last election have taken jobs in organisations involved in lobbying and have been given passes that give them privileged access to Parliament, an investigation for The Independent has established. Research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that one in five of the 79 MPs who have applied for Former Members' Passes after the 2010 election now work for companies or organisations with a possible interest in influencing present MPs.

When the former MPs' pass scheme was set up seven years ago those behind it had honourable intentions. They wanted to make the transition a litle easier from being an MP one day to being unceremoniously ejected from the House of Commons the next.

Christina Patterson meets backbench MP Stephen Lloyd who thinks we should give them another chance.

Body representing disgraced Bell Pottinger, among others, pulls out of plans for new register

A parliamentary investigation into lobbying firms, including Bell Pottinger, and their links with ministers is to be launched.

Britain's most prestigious think tank published a report by a lobbyist on a subject in which his client had a direct interest, The Independent has learnt.

George Soros has put a new man in charge of giving away his multi-billion dollar fortune. The hedge fund manager-turned-liberal activist yesterday named Christopher Stone, a criminal justice professor from Harvard, to run his Open Society Foundations.

The trade body which represents the UK's public relations and lobbying industry is to investigate Bell Pottinger over claims made by executives during a business pitch to undercover reporters. The reporters were posing as representatives of the repressive Uzbekistan regime, which has a long history of human rights abuses.

Policy influenced 'where we think they have legitimate concerns'

Bell Pottinger boasted of its "links" to the Royal Family to potential clients representing a brutal central Asian dictatorship and suggested that it might be able to organise a royal tour of the country on their behalf.