Lobbying has changed: 'What you know is now more important than who you know'

Lionel Zetter, son of a diplomat, and a former president of CIPR, is a highly experienced figure in politics, public affairs – and lobbying. Over the past 40 years his key roles have included adviser, policy fellow, and director in various government departments, including the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health and Social Care. As a parliamentary candidate in the 2005 general election, he fought Edmonton, but, as he says, “Edmonton fought back…”

His debut novel The Lobbyist is described as a gripping, ‘sex and drugs’ political thriller that delves into the seedy, complex world of lobbying, espionage and political manipulation. Pitting ruthless lobbyist Damian Beaufort into a dangerous world of MI5, MI6, Brexit politics, and Russian espionage, it’s been praised by political insiders for its authentic and insider perspective – according to Michael Dobbs, creator of House of Cards, it “does for political lobbying what Hannibal Lecter did for a quiet night’s sleep”.

My father was a diplomat – we spent a lot of time behind the Iron Curtain being followed, bugged and harassed. We lived in Warsaw and Romania but also visited East Germany and Russia. My father was posted to Vietnam at the height of the war and had a couple of postings in trouble spots in Africa. So, I came to learn how espionage worked. 

I was approached to join MI6 during my time at Sussex University – I was reading history and strategic studies

I started lobbying in the 1980s and it really was the wild west. Anything went. There was lots of House of Commons notepaper floating around, and no limit to the amount of entertainment and trips you could take MPs on. Gradually over the years, that's been tightened up. There's a lot more transparency. It's become much more professional – much more about what you know rather than who you know.

I'm a sort of failed politician. I got elected for council, but I failed to get elected for Parliament. But I like campaigning, for the same reason I like public affairs: every door you knock on, it’s a different story. Some will be absolutely for you, some will be absolutely against you, but most are in the middle. So, you have a little discussion: 
‘I normally vote X.’ ‘Well, why do you vote X?’ ‘Because of Y and Z.’ Well, have you thought about A and B?’

I prefer to lobby face to face, preferably over a lunch table or in a pub. But I am old school. A lot more is done from the desk now, and of course, people today don't drink in the way my generation did. A good thing, of course – we all drank far too much back in the day. But just meeting people is everything. In my book, Lobbying: The Art of Political Persuasion, I say relationships are everything, and relationships are based on trust. So, you’ve got to meet people, get to know them, get them to like you, and establish a working relationship, not mislead them or let them down. And then you've got a relationship for as long as that person is there.

Whatever kind of lobbyist you are, from healthcare to defence, you also have to understand parliamentary procedure. Which, as you know, is quite byzantine. And you have to understand how policy is developed, because once a bill has been printed, once it’s started its journey, it's much harder to achieve things. So there’s a strong element of knowledge. These days, there are more books, more courses, and more training available. 

The CIPR does really good training, and there are lots of lobbyists coming into the profession now who have studied PR or public affairs at undergraduate or even postgraduate level. They’re very professional and very hard-working. I’m full of admiration for the younger generation, which is not true in every profession. 

The challenge for lobbyists in 2026 is definitely going to be the economy. It's no secret that 80% of the money we are currently borrowing is paying interest on money we've already borrowed – and that cannot be landed at the feet of this government. But their solution is growth, and it's ephemeral. The solution Mel Stride [shadow chancellor] put up was that we really need to clamp down heavily on benefits and the size of the civil service. And having been a special adviser, I think the civil service is hugely overmanned. 

If the Ukraine war and Ukraine can be settled satisfactorily, which is very hard to see, it will unblock an awful lot of opportunities. The Ukrainians have shown not just enormous bravery on the battlefield, but enormous ability to adapt and produce weaponry – some of the drones we’re working on in the UK use Ukrainian technology. I am very proud to have been placed on the Russian government sanctions list as a result of my pro bono work for Ukraine. 

AI is an enormous opportunity. But it's extremely hungry, both for water and energy. We're not particularly endowed with either at the moment. There may be an AI crash fairly soon, but it is a massive opportunity for government and business. 

You mightn’t agree with what Nigel Farage says, but what a communicator! As he says when he's being interviewed, ‘I don't have a script in front of me. I don't need one because I know what I believe.’ Now, reality is going to hit Reform in the face fairly soon, because they don't have many MPs. They don't have a lot of thought-through policies. They don't yet have a network of associations and local workers on the ground, and even their fundraising is faltering. But I would certainly not write them off at the next election.

As a lifelong Tory, I found it perfectly ok to lobby under a Tony Blair government. They were New Labour, so pro-business. But in the run up to the last election, I had real doubts about the pro-business stance Labour was putting forward. And to be perfectly frank with you, this has turned out to be the case. There is almost nothing this government has done that is pro-growth for business. Starmer is a terrible communicator. And if you look at the rest of the cabinet, their business experience is pretty well zero. It's not a government I enjoy lobbying with, so I sort of foresaw the end of my career. It's not quite there yet.

The inspiration for my new book was Michael Dobbs, a fantastic guy, who famously got his inspiration after he was sacked by Margaret Thatcher. He was sitting by the pool with his wife, bemoaning his fate when his wife said, ‘Stop moaning: decide what you're going to do and do it.’ And he sat down and wrote a fantastic book called House of Cards. Which led to a UK TV series and then a very famous US TV series. So, I am following very meekly and humbly in his footsteps.

There's a little bit of James Bond in my character Damian Beaufort. There's also a bit of Francis Urquhart, and a bit of Bourne. 

My favourite Bond film is Skyfall – I like the grittiness of Daniel Craig. My publisher described the novel on the blurb as Michael Dobbs meets John Le Currie with a dash of Jilly Cooper. Oh, fantastic!

I've had a fantastic career in lobbying. I've been chair of the Government Affairs Group, the PRCA Public Affairs board, and the nascent CIPR. And I've enjoyed each and every one of those roles. But now I do see my future. My fictional lobbyist is unethical. He drinks too much, takes drugs, and sleeps around. He's an awful person. But at the end of the day he's a patriot, and he does the right thing by his country. And he will live to ride another day, if I can use that expression, because we're working on the sequel now.

• The Lobbyist by Lionel Zetter is out now, published by Nine Elms Books.

In modern public affairs, what you know matters more than who you know. Build your knowledge with the CIPR Public Affairs Diploma - designed to help you understand policy, influence effectively and practice ethically. 

Lysanne Currie is the editor of Influence. She previously edited Director magazine for the Institute of Directors and Sky magazine for British Sky Broadcasting. Lysanne is the founder and CEO of content agency Meet the Leader.

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