Reading 1

A This text from an incisive commentator on British politics and society, Anthony Sampson, uses many words and expressions which are useful when talking or writing about politics.

Behind the public debates of parliament, the hidden pressures on government influence legislation much more than speeches. Growing numbers of Members of Parliament (MPs) are themselves well-paid to represent commercial or special interests, sometimes more assiduously than their own constituents. But the most powerful lobbies, like the big corporations or the Institute of Directors, do not bother much about Members: they can go straight to ministers and civil servants. Lobbyists reach their annual climax when the Chancellor of the Exchequer is preparing his annual budget and receives petitions from business interests pressing for tax concessions.

B In this text Anthony Sampson looks at the relative strengths of different types of lobbyists.

The interests of producers-centralised, close-knit and well-funded-inevitably win over the consumers, who are scattered and fragmented, and the most powerful pressures of all, like the road-and-car lobby, change the face of the country through backstairs pressures which are concealed from any public debate. Gradually non-commercial lobbies have also become much better organized, like Friends of the Earth or the Child Poverty Action Group, some with hundreds and thousands of paid-up members. Others relentlessly lobby Members of Parliament with mass-produced letters and deputationstointimidate and encircle them. They have done much to counterbig-business pressures with thehelp of effective publicity; but they cannot take account of grievances of the individual, who can only appeal tohis own Member of Parliament.