Beneath the stories that dominated the headlines at conference – Brown’s future and the country’s fortunes – another issue was brewing. That of lobbyists and their licence to operate under the radar of public scrutiny.

Tamasin Cave investigates the influence that corporate lobbyists such as Tesco, BAA and the nuclear power industry have on government, how they’re able to sway public policy to meet their ends and how they hide these activities from the public gaze.

We’re now about halfway through the Parliamentary inquiry into lobbying- the first in the UK for 17 years.

Tamasin Cave on the first session of the Select Committee Inquiry into lobbying, which kicked off on Thursday morning.