“Ahead of the International Investment Summit on 14 October, this meeting will provide an opportunity for you, alongside other U.K. business leaders, to hear from Ian about the government’s investment priorities, and for you to share your thoughts and ideas,” the invite read.
Murphy and his lobbying firm Arden Strategies are seen as leading power players in the new administration.
The former Scottish Labour leader, who served in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet, built up goodwill with party figures in the run-up to Labour’s landslide win, helping the party to run business events and put on fundraisers for candidates.
Several MPs benefited from a joint Arden/Budweiser fundraiser during the campaign, according to the British parliament’s official register of interests.
The firm has sponsored two successive Labour Business Conferences.
Its logo was plastered across Labour’s wider party conference in Liverpool last week, and its panels bagged appearances from heavy hitters in the Cabinet including Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell. One rival public affairs professional joked that the Liverpool gathering should be dubbed “Arden conference.”
