{"id":564122,"date":"2026-05-03T14:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T14:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/564122\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T14:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T14:42:08","slug":"starmer-adviser-held-16-undisclosed-meetings-with-top-us-tech-bosses-technology-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/564122\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer adviser held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech bosses | Technology policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

An influential government adviser close to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves<\/a> held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech executives, the Guardian can reveal.<\/p>\n

The No 10 business aide Varun Chandra discussed regulatory changes, AI and Donald Trump\u2019s second administration with tech corporations during confidential meetings between October 2024 and October 2025. In one meeting he offered to help a top executive meet the prime minister directly.<\/p>\n

Chandra\u2019s dealings with six major technology companies \u2013 Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Apple and Meta \u2013 took place as the government developed policies to secure investment from Silicon Valley, including multimillion-pound energy subsidies and preferential planning approval for datacentres<\/a> in what ministers have called AI growth zones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While largely unknown outside Westminster, Chandra, who ran a corporate intelligence firm founded by former British spies before joining government, is a central figure in Downing Street and is a key champion of the government\u2019s push for economic growth.<\/p>\n

Chandra\u2019s role as chief business adviser to the prime minister was expanded this year to include the remit of US trade envoy<\/a>, in which he offers advice on trade negotiations, including AI investment.<\/p>\n

Chandra (left) at a business roundtable in 10 Downing Street in November 2024. Photograph: Frank Augstein\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Unlike senior civil servants and ministers, political advisers do not have to declare their interactions with private firms and lobbyists although meetings are recorded by civil servants. It took 12 months to get confirmation of Chandra\u2019s engagements under freedom of information rules.<\/p>\n

The meeting logs obtained by the Guardian are the first glimpse into the working schedule of a powerful political operative who can link business executives to the prime minister and the chancellor. They raise questions about what a democracy campaigner described as \u201clobbying behind closed doors\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Downing Street spokesperson said Chandra had helped secure a UK-US trade deal as well as \u201crecord\u201d inward investment from American companies. The spokesperson added: \u201cMeeting businesses is a core and entirely expected part of the prime minister\u2019s business adviser\u2019s role.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Removing barriers for businesses\u2019<\/p>\n

Chandra, who was appointed by Starmer shortly after Labour won the 2024 election, met 13 senior executives, including Siobhan Wilson, the top UK executive for Oracle, which was founded by the Trump ally Larry Ellison, and David Zapolsky, Amazon\u2019s chief global affairs officer.<\/p>\n

Redacted minutes of those meetings suggest Chandra agreed to help Wilson meet Starmer and prepared the ground for Starmer to meet the Amazon chief executive, Andy Jassy, who replaced the company\u2019s founder, Jeff Bezos, in 2021.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s push for AI-driven growth was a frequent talking point. Executives from Meta, Microsoft<\/a> and Oracle raised AI, datacentres and AI growth zones with Chandra.<\/p>\n

The government believes promises by US tech firms to invest \u00a3150bn<\/a> will turbocharge the UK economy. The Guardian found last month that many of the deals were \u201cphantom investments\u201d<\/a>, with existing datacentres presented as new builds and a site earmarked for a supercomputer left undeveloped. OpenAI paused a multibillion-pound plan for a North Tyneside datacentre<\/a> last month, blaming energy costs and regulation.<\/p>\n

Regulatory reform was covered in at least four meetings. Meta\u2019s vice-president, Joel Kaplan, a former Republican official who replaced the former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg in the role, provided feedback to Chandra on the \u201cUK regulatory landscape\u201d.<\/p>\n

Joel Kaplan (right) with the Meta chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg. Photograph: Samuel Corum\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

At the beginning of 2025, Chandra discussed the government\u2019s \u201ccommitment to removing barriers for businesses\u201d with three Apple<\/a> executives including Matt Browne, who oversees the company\u2019s relations with governments in Europe.<\/p>\n

On the same day that Chandra met the Apple executives, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, ordered business watchdogs to reduce anti-growth regulations<\/a> as part of an overhaul reportedly inspired by the No 10 business aide<\/a>. The shake-up led to the removal of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) chair, Marcus Bokkerink, who was preparing to use new powers to break up tech duopolies and monopolies.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Reeves said she had received positive feedback since \u201cshe got rid\u201d of Bokkerink, adding: \u201cPreviously businesses, all the time \u2013 especially in tech \u2013 had been raising concerns about the CMA. That has changed a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s presidency came up in two meetings with the Microsoft vice-chair, Brad Smith. The pair discussed Trump\u2019s priorities during a meeting at the exclusive gathering of political and business elites in Davos at the start of last year. Chandra then briefed Smith about Trump\u2019s unprecedented second state visit to the UK.<\/p>\n

Rose Zussman, a senior advocacy manager at the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, said the meetings should be treated as lobbying and raised serious questions about accountability: \u201cLobbying behind closed doors enables outside interests to influence our politics without public scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

A rising star in government<\/p>\n

Chandra is one of Labour\u2019s best-connected business advisers, with a contact book few can match. His former firm Hakluyt does not disclose its client list but boasts that it advises some of the world\u2019s largest corporations<\/a>. He left the London-based company, which has been jokingly referred to as a retirement home for secret service agents, to join the government two years ago, but he still owns more than 300,000 shares in the company<\/a>, according to accounts published on Companies House in April.<\/p>\n

Get in touch<\/p>\n

Contact our investigations team<\/p>\n

The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods:<\/p>\n

Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/p>\n

The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS<\/a>\/Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n

SecureDropIf you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, our guide at theguardian.com\/tips<\/a>\u00a0lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Show more<\/p>\n

Starmer hired Chandra<\/a> soon after his general election victory to deepen the party\u2019s ties with corporate executives and international investors.<\/p>\n

Chandra is highly regarded by Starmer, and his stock has risen further since he helped negotiate a trade deal with the Trump administration. He is one of the few survivors of the relentless internal upheavals in No 10 \u2013 and was even interviewed by the prime minister for the US ambassador vacancy<\/a>. The job went to a career diplomat in the end but Starmer did reward Chandra with the additional role of trade envoy to the US.<\/p>\n

Chandra\u2019s links to the corporate world have sometimes led to controversy. He was criticised after it came to light he was involved in trying to find a private sector buyer for Thames Water<\/a> even though Hakluyt was advising the company.<\/p>\n

The Guardian submitted four freedom of information requests over 12 months asking for details of Chandra\u2019s external meetings with the six top US tech companies.<\/p>\n

The Cabinet Office refused to reveal if Chandra had held meetings with other companies, claiming the Guardian\u2019s request for all his external meetings was \u201cvexatious\u201d requiring a \u201cburdensome amount of resources\u201d to answer.<\/p>\n

Transparency International\u2019s Zussman said it should not take multiple FoI requests to uncover who is trying to influence government decision-making. She said: \u201cWe need a comprehensive lobbying register that is fit for purpose, and for outside meetings with special advisers and other senior officials to be brought into the definition of lobbying activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chandra declined to comment, as did Google<\/a> and Amazon. The other tech companies did not respond to the Guardian\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An influential government adviser close to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-564122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}