The Political Quarterly, Vol. 93, No.

2, April–June 2022

Business and Politics: A Relationship under

Abstract
This collection of articles demonstrates the variety of ways in which business interacts with
politics. This can only be understood if we recognise the heterogeneity of business. Indeed,
capital vs capital conflicts are often now more important than those with traditional foes.
Reputation is an important driver of business responses to political challenges, not least in
relation to climate change. Government remains reliant on information and consent from
business, but can face business down on particular issues.
Keywords: business, climate change, Brexit, EU, capitalism

THIS COLLECTION of articles maintains that particularly in an era where there is a greater
the relationship between business and politics emphasis on environmental, social and gover-
is more complex than is often assumed. It is nance (ESG) issues. In the US this has led to a
also a relationship that is undergoing a process backlash by conservative investors, who fear
of change. Among the sources of change are that what they perceive as a ‘woke’ movement
greater heterogeneity and fragmentation of is diverting business from its real purpose, to
business interests, leading to an increase in make money.
the salience of capital vs capital disputes and Businesses are very concerned about their
the challenges that populist governments pose reputations: reputational damage can affect
for businesses that consider they need to adjust their viability. This is particularly the case with
to wider changes in societal values and priori- consumer-facing brands. However, there are
ties. Populists often perceive business as part limits to the constraints resulting from reputa-
of established elites that are opposed to their tional considerations. P&O Ferries were
agenda, played out in a conflict between recently prepared to break employment law
nationalism and protection on the one hand, to replace long-serving staff with cheaper con-
and liberalism and globalism on the other— tract workers, claiming that was the only way
as in the recent French presidential election. It to save the business. Although most busi-
should be noted that most business persons nesses made a rapid retreat from involvement
are not political in a partisan sense and many in Russia after the outbreak of the war in
of them do not hold politicians in high regard, Ukraine, this happened more slowly in the
or see them as having a good understanding of case of food processing companies with a sub-
how business works. stantial presence there, such as Danone and
Businesses in market economies exist to Nestlé.
make a profit and a return to shareholders Nevertheless, there are forces that draw
and managers. These pressures are strong in business and government together, as well as
countries like the US and the UK, where distancing them. They may not appreciate
short-term perspectives are reinforced by each other, but they are often locked in an
stock markets with increasingly active inves- unavoidable symbiotic relationship. Economic
tors and the presence of private equity firms success is important for a government’s
and hedge funds. However, in practice, busi- re-election chances and a cooperative relation-
ness objectives are much more complex, ship with business can help to deliver that. In

190 © 2022 The Author. The Political Quarterly published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Political Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC).
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits
use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or
adaptations are made.
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countries where the civil service is made up of In the case of the UK, the Leave faction effec-
generalists or lawyers, the technical expertise tively took control of the Conservative Party
of business associations may be essential to and promised to ‘get Brexit done’ with an
effective policy making. This may particularly ‘oven ready solution’. This promise resonated
apply to the EU, where the Commission does with many voters in ‘red wall’ seats and
not have enough staff to deal with all the legis- enabled the Conservatives to win a substantial
lative tasks it faces. In some polities, notably majority in the 2019 election. Business was
the US, politicians may be reliant on business overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in
donations to fund expensive election cam- the EU, although consumer-facing companies
paigns. Former ministers, legislators or civil were often reluctant to say so for fear of upset-
ting customers who wanted to leave. In any
servants may find lucrative employment in
event, Brexit undoubtedly worsened the
business when their political or bureaucratic
divide between business and the Conservative
careers end, by going through the ‘revolv-
Party, leading Boris Johnson to use an exple-
ing door’. tive to describe his view of business.
The contributions to this special section are Considering the US through the lens of the
understandably rather Westminster or politics of power and support, Wilson posits
Brussels-centric given the constraints of space. that the Republicans’ status as the party of
It should be pointed out that the devolved business is fragile, not least because of Trum-
administrations (DAs) in the UK have signifi- pian tendencies to pursue a politics of support
cant powers and business has had to organise that goes against business interests, particu-
and devote additional resources to influencing larly on free trade. He notes in his article that
them. Their decisions can impact on business the relationship of the Trump administration
viability. For example, the hospitality industry with business was ‘complicated’ and Trump
in Scotland found it more challenging to personally criticised a leading business organi-
recover from the pandemic because of sation, the US Chamber of Commerce. Wil-
enhanced restrictions relating to mask wear- son’s argument resonates with the British
ing. The DAs may also in time develop an experience, particularly the deteriorating rela-
agenda-setting function rather like California tionship between the Conservatives and
in the US, developing policy initiatives for business.
which there is then pressure to replicate else-
where. Business also needs to have contin-
gency plans in case Scotland should become
independent. Business influence in different
arenas
Ganderson tackles the Conservatives’ failure
The politics of support and the to protect City interests around Brexit. As he
shows, the influence of the financial services
politics of power sector on governments, particularly Conserva-
One way of understanding the tensions tive ones, is not what it was. The Labour Party
between business and government is through feels a greater imperative to win financial ser-
Andrew Gamble’s classic distinction between vices support because it is more vulnerable to
the politics of support and the politics of criticisms by them, while the Conservatives
power. The politics of support is concerned can to some extent take that support for
with securing an electoral majority, but the granted (though it is only a minority of firms
politics of power relates to implementing a and individuals that donate to them). Because
programme in office. For instance, electorates of their links with the City, Conservatives
often want to restrict immigration, and a party may sense that its much vaunted structural
that fails to advance policies of that kind may power has been waning or perhaps was never
find itself being outflanked on the right. For as strong as was claimed.
its part, business generally favours relatively It is important to unpack what we mean by
liberal immigration policies to fill gaps in the that much used, but rather ambiguous term,
workforce and also (although it may not admit ‘the City’, recalling that the ‘fractions of capi-
this) to hold down the price of labour. tal’ debate led to the conclusion that the

INTRODUCTION: A COMPLEX AND VARIABLE RELATIONSHIP 191

© 2022 The Author. The Political Quarterly published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Political The Political Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 2
Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC).
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political displacement of the City was based on technology companies even before the rules
an alliance with footloose multinational capi- come into force in Brussels.’1
tal, not least in the extractive industries. Finan-
cial services have geographically dispersed
beyond the City itself, for example to Canary Resource dependency of
Wharf and Edinburgh, but this shift of location
is not the most important change. Power
government
structures and relations altered considerably. A different view of the power of business is
Fifty years ago, the Governor of the Bank of provided by Kuzemko and Meggitt. Kuzemko
England could represent the City as a kind of gives an account of the resource dependency
secular pope, urbi et orbi, turning up in his Rolls of government on information held by busi-
in Downing Street to instruct the Prime Minis- ness and notes that large, incumbent utility
ter. This is no longer possible, because the companies in the UK—historically referred to
financial services sector is much more hetero- as the ‘Big 6’—have had the ability to influence
geneous. One indicator of this has been the government policy and regulatory decisions.
emergence and greater displacement of profes- Incumbent utility companies also maintained
sional business associations representing par- a more direct influence over regulatory change
ticular sectors, such a bankers and insurance. through majority representation on the Ofgem
Away from these long-established sectors, review boards responsible for agreeing, or oth-
hedge funds and private equity do not feel erwise, regulatory changes. Kuzemko’s article
themselves bound by traditional conventions. also helps us to understand why companies
The EU institutions might be expected to be may favour regulation as an entry barrier to a
more business-friendly territory as electoral particular market, as well as a means of avoid-
considerations are more distant, but Cowen ing reputational damage. Regulation is as
and Tarrant’s study shows that the EU is pre- much about making a market as constraining
pared to take on big (US) business. Big busi- it. In the UK energy industry, the Big 6 compa-
ness can lack leverage, specifically when the nies have long argued that the regime is too
businesses in question are not major light touch, failing to assess adequately
employers in the countries with influence over whether new entrants had financial models
decision making in the EU. Coen and Katsaitis sufficiently capable of withstanding price
show that UK businesses are seeking to main- shocks.
tain influence over EU policy making, but This dependency is also a theme of Meg-
Cowen and Tarrant cast doubt on whether gitt’s article. He shows the ‘company state’ in
they can really do so without ‘their’ govern- action, whereby individual companies seek to
ment in the room. gain an inside track, sometimes to the disad-
More mature industries sometimes consider vantage of other companies. Firms that
that hi tech companies exert greater influence depend for a large part of their business
than they do. However, the case study of the on government contracts, such as pharmaceu-
EU’s Digital Markets Act by Cowen and Tar- ticals, civil engineering and the defence
rant brings out the limits of corporate lobbying industries, may have a particularly close rela-
by the GAFAMs (Google, Amazon, Facebook, tionship with government, especially where
Apple and Microsoft) as they are colloquially there are monopoly suppliers facing a monop-
known. Other voices have been heard and oly purchaser. Meggitt discusses how this rela-
the draft legislation is not in the process of tionship has evolved over time, with the
being watered down, with the text which is Covid-19 pandemic leading to private pro-
eventually adopted by the Council and the viders being treated as partner organisations.
Parliament likely to be even less palatable to Reduced competition, the consistent failure to
the GAFAMs than the Commission’s initial publish required procurement notices and a
proposal. The assessment by big tech compa- corresponding drop in transparency created
nies is that the battle on competition law has undue financial and commercial advantages
already been lost: ‘There’s already a sense in for those with a close relationship with the
Europe that the mood music for big tech has
changed. Antitrust bodies in member states 1
J. Espinoza, ‘How Big Tech lost the antitrust battle
have been empowered to target major with Europe’, Financial Times, 21 March 2022.

192 WYN GRANT

The Political Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 2 © 2022 The Author. The Political Quarterly published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Political
Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC).
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government, as well as a loss in opportunity wind and solar projects more likely to involve
for competitor public service companies. In smaller companies.
general, it should be noted that companies that
rely on public contracts are more likely to be
relaxed about higher levels of public Can the UK have an effective
expenditure.
Unifying business interests and promoting industrial policy?
them through a representative organisation Coulter argues that the failure to develop and
might seem to offer a route to greater and more implement a meaningful industrial policy
sustainable influence over policy, but this has reflects the absence of coordinative institutions
not happened in the UK. This reflects the at the national level. Governments under suc-
extent to which the UK, like the US, conforms cessive Prime Ministers have rewritten indus-
to the model of a ‘company state’ in which trial policy around their favourite headline
direct relations between big companies and interventions. This difference between associa-
government are significant, while in an asso- tive and company states mirrors a debate in
ciative state like Germany, business associa- the very influential Varieties of Capitalism
tions are seen as essential intermediaries. (VoC) literature which forms a central theme
Direct company representation using govern- in Coulter’s article on industrial policy along-
ment relations divisions (which have a variety side growth models. He suggests that it
of titles) have developed over the last forty implies that the UK faces particular challenges
years, at first in the Anglo-American ‘com- in implementing an effective industrial policy.
pany states’, but the practice has also become The VoC model distinguishes between lib-
widespread at the EU level, as Coen and Kat- eral market economies such as the UK and
saitis show in their contribution. Kuzemko the US and coordinated market economies, of
refers to the lobbying teams maintained by which Germany is the prime example. Indeed,
big energy corporations. It should be noted a persistent theme of political economy debate
that both associations and companies may in the UK has been that Germany has discov-
use public affairs consultants for specific lob- ered a superior Sonderweg that should be repli-
bying tasks, particularly in relation to cated in Britain, including stronger business
legislatures. associations. Firms and business networks
Jones’s article shows just how weak busi- have a central role in the VoC model devel-
ness influence is in the important, if prosaic, oped by Hall and Soskice. It is argued in the
area of labour market policy. There seem to VoC model that ‘German business (owners
be no mechanisms for meaningful dialogue, and managers) have a “pre-strategic” prefer-
with ‘consultation’ exercises largely missing ence for preserving the institutions of coordi-
the point. The interviews conducted by Jones nated capitalism, independent of unions’ or
illustrate the heterogeneity and relative governments’ countervailing power, and this
weakness of smaller businesses. Small busi- accounts for the resilience of the German
nesses range from micro businesses to quite model in the face of globalization and declin-
large manufacturing enterprises. Tensions ing union power.’2
between large and small businesses particu- Hall and Soskice are two of the most distin-
larly arise over delayed payments, which guished scholars of comparative political
can be particularly important to enterprises economy, but the VoC model is arguably
that are effectively subcontractors to larger showing its age. This is why the efforts of Bac-
businesses supplying components or services. caro and Pontusson to reconcile the compara-
Smaller businesses have been able to use their tive political economy tradition represented
political influence to secure favourable tax by VoC with the international political econ-
treatment, as in the UK, or protected struc- omy approach based on a globalisation para-
tures, as with the German Handwerk system. digm are so important. They recognise the
In the absence of such structures, Kuzemko
points out, UK government policy has 2
L. Baccaro and J. Pontusson, ‘Rethinking compara-
favoured large scale offshore projects in tive political economy: the growth model perspec-
which incumbent companies are involved, tive’, Politics and Society, vol. 44, 2016, pp. 175–207,
while being much less favourable to onshore at p. 178.

INTRODUCTION: A COMPLEX AND VARIABLE RELATIONSHIP 193

© 2022 The Author. The Political Quarterly published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Political The Political Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 2
Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC).
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persistence of national diversity, but ‘in con- such as those lubricated by the London clubs.
trast to the varieties of capitalism (VoC) litera- The 1970 Heath government started by profes-
ture inspired by Peter Hall and David Soskice, sing to pursue free market policies, but then
we do not conceive this diversity in terms of reverted to tripartite arrangements. This set
institutional equilibria that predate the crisis up some tensions within the Confederation of
of Fordism in the 1970s.’3 In a forthcoming British Industry (CBI), as some business
book with Blyth, they emphasise how this leaders wanted a market policy that was freer,
debate is important in terms of understanding while others favoured tripartite cooperation.
economic growth and stagnation. Where there was agreement was that the gov-
ernment had failed to govern well, managing
to get into a confrontation with the unions it
The British Conservative Party and could not win. Business people are generally
business pragmatists rather than ideologues and favour
McMenamin and Schoenman have noted that solutions over conflict. As a former CBI presi-
‘the political party remains a relatively under- dent ruefully reflected in relation to the
studied actor in government-business rela- miners’ strike which led to the general election
tions. Indeed, there is very little systematic of 1974, ‘The CBI and the TUC were very close
literature on the relationship between the two to an agreement that could have got the gov-
key organisations of capitalism and represen- ernment off the hook of its statutory Phase
tative democracy.’4 Where there are dominant 3 wages policy as applied to the miners. But
political parties such as the LDP in Japan, or in … the chance was missed and the Prime Minis-
the past the CDU in Italy, business may align ter decided to put the issue to the electorate.’6
itself with particular factions in the dominant For Mrs Thatcher, the CBI was part of the
party. Donations to individual legislators are problem, not part of the solution, a legacy of
particularly important in the US, as Wilson cosy tripartite arrangements that had contrib-
discusses in his article. He notes that there is uted to Britain’s economic decline. Matters
no definitive proof that they are effective and did not improve when the CBI’s president
business is sometimes defeated, but it is doubt- promised a ‘bare knuckle fight’ with the gov-
ful if business would spend so much money in ernment at their 1980 conference. Mrs
this way if it had no impact. Thatcher found the Institute of Directors
The relationship between business and the (IoD) a much more ideologically congenial
British Conservative Party has often been partner, trying to talk up the economy, while
more problematic than might be assumed. As the CBI’s pronouncements were more pessi-
Gamble points out, although the Conservative mistic. The IoD was always ready to back
Party has always been a party of property, it new initiatives to curb the power of the unions
has never been the mouthpiece for business and consequently had a significant influence
interests in the way that it was once the mouth- on employment law.
piece for landed interests.’5 Tony Blair saw a John Major was more willing to engage with
gap in the market when he aspired to make the CBI, but the organisation was hollowed
Labour ‘the natural party of business’. The out by the experience of the 1980s. It never
relationship has been more harmonious at became a governing institution again in the
some times than others and one of the key vari- way that it was from its government encour-
ables appears to be the preferences of the aged formation in 1965 through the tripartite
Prime Minister in office. years of the 1970s. To some extent, it has been
In the 1950s and 1960s the relationship could outflanked by other organisations, in part
be mediated through informal relationships, because it is sought to represent business as a
whole, with all the divisions that implies,
3 rather than being primarily a voice for the
Ibid., p. 176.
manufacturing industry. The Engineering
4
L. McMenamin and R. Schoenman, ‘Together for-
ever? Explaining exclusivity in party-firm relations’, Employers Federation rebranded itself as
Political Studies, vol. 55, no. 1, 2007, pp. 153–73,
at p. 153.
5 6
A. Gamble, The Conservative Nation, London, Rou- Viscount Watkinson, Blueprint for Survival, London,
tledge, 1974, p. 320. Allen & Unwin, 1976, p. 85.

194 WYN GRANT

The Political Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 2 © 2022 The Author. The Political Quarterly published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Political
Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC).
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Make UK, the manufacturers’ organisation. government also set up an Industrial Strategy
The Financial Times warned in an editorial that Council in 2018, chaired by Andy Haldane,
‘the CBI needs to avoid falling into then chief economist at the Bank of England.
irrelevancy’.7 This was scrapped in 2021, a move criticised
When David Cameron became Prime Minis- by the House of Commons Business, Energy
ter in 2010, he set up a Business Advisory and Industrial Strategy Committee as risking
Council to replace Gordon Brown’s Business widening the gap between government and
Council for Britain. Meeting quarterly, it was business at a time when productivity improve-
supposed to offer advice on the critical busi- ments were needed.
ness and economic issues facing the country. Relations with business have never deterio-
None of the members were drawn from smal- rated as much under a Conservative govern-
ler businesses and all of them were either chief ment as they have with Boris Johnson as
executive officers or company chairs. In 2015 Prime Minister. Coulter points out in his article
Cameron changed the entire membership, that the CBI has long argued for a more effec-
with seven of the twenty members drawn tive industrial policy, but is particularly critical
from the financial services sector. He was keen of the current government’s approach in its
to have good relations with business, almost a Plan for Growth. Johnson has an affinity with
cosy relationship, seeing himself as a salesman buccaneers and disrupters, but is much less
for the UK. These warm feelings did not, how- in tune with the corporate management world
ever, necessarily translate into business of big business, where decisions are carefully
friendly policies. Cameron and Osborne weighed rather than being taken instinctively.
boosted the minimum wage, bypassing the Big corporations are seen as part of a bureau-
Low Pay Commission where business had a cratic mentality that stands in the way of inno-
defined role. vation and change. Johnson’s shambolic and
Theresa May was much more inclined to rambling speech to the CBI conference in
keep business at arm’s length. She distanced 2021, and his attempt to represent the Peppa
herself from business and focussed on issues Pig water park as an example of innovation,
such as improving corporate governance and reflected the fact that this was a setting he
fixing broken markets. When she became was not comfortable in and did not respect.
Prime Minister, she was determined to take He launched a new Business Council in
on big business, giving speeches attacking February 2022 to mark two years of ‘getting
high executive pay and proposing an overhaul Brexit done’, but it received scant media atten-
of corporate governance that would put tion. However, some would argue that dealing
workers on boards. She promptly scrapped with the Covid-19 pandemic brought business
Cameron’s Business Advisory Council. How- and government closer together.
ever, after her election setback in 2017 she The Business Action Council was set up in
reconvened a rolling group of about fifteen 2020 to provide government with a more
executives who met on a rotating basis—albeit coherent perspective from business in the con-
only about three times. It involved meetings text of the pandemic. The founding members
twice a year with sector-specific groups, such were thirty-two organisations, including the
as banking, industry, technology and health- CBI, the IoD, the Federation of Small Busi-
care, with each group chaired by a prominent nesses (FSB) and the British Chambers of Com-
executive. That would commit the Prime Min- merce (BCC). It was set up by an old university
ister to up to twelve formal meetings with friend of Boris Johnson, Maurice Ostro, a little-
business leaders every year, a far more intense known former frozen yoghurt company
level of engagement than in the preceding two owner turned aviation and jewellery magnate,
years. The Prime Minister also attended some who claimed that the PM had personally asked
of the more frequent meetings held between him to help build consensus in the business
the then business secretary Greg Clark and community. However, there were concerns
the five main business lobbying groups. The that he was trying to side-line longstanding
channels of communication between the gov-
ernment and the corporate world. Others
7
‘Fixing relations between the Tories and business’, argued that it was little more than a well-
Financial Times, 24 November 2021. meaning talking shop, amounting to little

INTRODUCTION: A COMPLEX AND VARIABLE RELATIONSHIP 195

© 2022 The Author. The Political Quarterly published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Political The Political Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 2
Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC).
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more than occasional half-hour group confer- problems in mid-sized blocks. In addition,
ence calls organised weeks in advance. there was a £200 million a year residential
The underlying tone of relations between property developer tax levied on the profits
the Conservative Party and business has of the largest developers. Gove also broke off
remained largely cold or even hostile. At the negotiations with the cladding and insulation
2021 party conference, there was ‘a unified manufacturers, saying they had ‘individually
assault on companies who are failing to adapt and collectively failed’ to provide a proposal
to a new economic model … the scale of the to deal with their part in the crisis.9 In addition,
vitriol towards big business left you wonder- he instructed officials to take legal action
ing if you had been transported to a gathering against the developers if necessary.
of the Greens.’8 Warnings on disruption in the
supply chain were seen as ‘remoaning’ by
businesses who wanted to retain access to Further research: climate talk or
cheap labour, although some back-pedalling
was later necessary as the scale of the problem
climate walk?
became apparent. The government’s stance on This collection of articles demonstrates that
the Northern Ireland protocol often appeared there is much work in progress that enhances
to be driven by a desire to show that Brexit our understanding of the complex relationship
was ‘done’, while businesses there were more between business and politics. The 1960s and
prepared to find ways of working within the 1970s was an era in which business influence
protocol which they saw as offering some was countervailed by organised labour in the
advantages. There is no long-term structural form of trade unions. They have declined in
relationship between business and the Conser- the extent to which they organise the labour
vative Party and such structures as have been force, although they still have some influence
created have not survived. From outward on social democratic parties. The current
warmth under David Cameron, the relation- opposition to business largely comes from
ship went in the freezer under Theresa May environmental groups (including animal
and then became one verging on hostility rights organisations), but they are a much
under Boris Johnson. more diverse category than organised labour,
Conservative governments are prepared to with a range of priorities and tactics. They
face down business when politics of support are, however, still able to exert an influence
considerations become more important. An on the framing of the political agenda, raising
example is Michael Gove’s success in forcing concerns about issues such as climate change.
housing companies to pay up for cladding One response by business has been to empha-
repairs after strong initial resistance. First, he sise ESG criteria in making decisions.
told companies to sign a pledge committing One area that requires further attention
them to fix tall blocks built with potentially within an ESG framework is that of urgent
dangerous cladding over the last thirty years. international environmental issues, princi-
If they did not do so, they would be signed pally climate change. The opening remarks
out of the planning system and government here emphasised the heterogeneity of business
housing funds, destroying their capacity to and the variability of its political involvement
build. Thirty-five companies pledged to do so and stances. For example, some businesses
out of fifty-three approached, but this raised are surprisingly active in reducing their carbon
only half the funds needed, in part because emissions and taking other environmentally
some companies had gone out of business. In friendly actions, but businesses with less con-
April 2022, he then announced a building cern for their reputations and more focus on
safety levy that would be charged on each short-term profits are always there to constrain
new development that sought building control and undermine them.
approval. This would raise around £3 billion In general, the results ‘of decades of [corpo-
over the next decade, to be used to tackle rate social responsibility] and now ESG are

8
R. Shrimsley, ‘Boris Johnson can battle business but 9
J. Pickard and I. Smith, ‘Gove sets out new £3bn tax
he can’t ignore economics’, Financial Times, to fund UK cladding repairs’, Financial
6 October 2021. Times,13 April 2022.

196 WYN GRANT

The Political Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 2 © 2022 The Author. The Political Quarterly published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Political
Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC).
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disappointing, highlighting long-standing support from influential nation states such as
problems with transparency-based self- China, India and Australia.
regulation in the absence of explicit sanctions The war in Ukraine has enhanced the
for non-compliance.’10 Empirical work by salience of energy security issues and the
Coen, Herman and Pegram shows that climate concerns of energy intensive industries in a
talk does not translate into substantive climate way that challenges the prospects of a green
walk. Their models ‘show that while some cli- transition in which business is a leading part-
mate commitments are genuine, many consti- ner. It has also enhanced the priority of food
tute little more than “greenwashing”— security issues in relation to the green transi-
producing symbolic rather than substantive tion in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
action.’11 It is in this area that one sees an inter- In relation to climate change at least, but also
esting tension between the politics of ideas to a range of other issues such as labour mar-
that help to frame issues and the politics of ket policy, business remains the elephant in
power that shape and constrain solutions. the room. Can it help to bring about real
There is general scientific acceptance that cli- change or will it water it down and
mate change is happening and requires a very obstruct it?
speedy and effective response. Nevertheless,
the fossil fuel industry was heavily repre- Wyn Grant is Emeritus Professor of Politics at
sented at COP26 and received important the University of Warwick.

10
D. Coen, K. Herman and T. Pegram, ‘Are corpo-
rate climate efforts genuine? An empirical analysis
of the climate ‘talk-walk’ hypothesis’, Business
Strategy and the Environment, 2022; https://
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bse.3063
(accessed 28 April 2022).
11
Ibid.

INTRODUCTION: A COMPLEX AND VARIABLE RELATIONSHIP 197

© 2022 The Author. The Political Quarterly published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Political The Political Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 2
Quarterly Publishing Co (PQPC).