A former chief of staff to Rishi Sunak who was made a Conservative peer has taken a job as “external affairs” chief at an artificial intelligence company that he encountered while working at No 10.
Liam Booth-Smith, who entered the House of Lords last year, has joined Anthropic, which recently signed a memorandum of understanding about working with the government on AI.
His former boss Sunak was a supporter of the UK leading on AI during his time as prime minister, and hosted a meeting where Anthropic was present in May 2023 – which was attended by Booth-Smith as an observer.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) said Booth-Smith should not engage in any lobbying on behalf of Anthropic for at least two years after leaving the government.
Anthropic confirmed to Acoba his role would not involve lobbying and that it would abide by its terms.
The committee said that Booth-Smith had not had any role in commercial or contractual decisions relating to Anthropic but noted that No 10 had overall oversight of AI policy.
But it added: “The committee’s view is that there remains a risk associated with Lord Booth Smith’s influence in government, particularly as he seeks to take up a role in external affairs. Anthropic is currently developing a UK presence to promote its services with a wide range of applications, including with and across the UK government.
“Lord Booth-Smith must avoid engaging in activity that could reasonably be seen as seeking to influence government decisions, including approaching the government, whether special advisers, other officials or ministers about its approach or policy on Anthropic’s behalf. If he was to initiate contact with the UK government it would be difficult to manage the risk that this is seen as lobbying.”
In addition to a two-year lobbying ban, it advised that Booth-Smith should not draw on any privileged information available to him from his time in government, make use of any contacts made in government to influence policy, or provide advice to Anthropic on any policy he had specific involvement in or responsibility for as chief of staff at No 10 for two years.
As a peer, Lord Booth-Smith is already banned from lobbying the government on any subject.
Gabe Winn, the chief executive of Blakeney, a lobbying firm, who is campaigning against peers being paid to offer political advice to companies, questioned whether Booth-Smith should be doing the external affairs role for an AI company as well as being a legislator.
An Anthropic spokesperson said: “Liam Booth-Smith is following all applicable Acoba guidance and the House of Lords Code of Conduct in his role.”
Booth-Smith has been approached for comment.