Lobbying: "It is the next big scandal waiting to happen... an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money... And we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way…"

So said David Cameron this week. But just how accurate is his depiction of the lobbying industry at work?

Today, Spinwatch publishes An Inside Job – a snapshot of political schmoozing by the City. The report looks at recent lobbying by the financial services industry and its many champions – from the banks themselves and their trade associations, to the lobbyists-for-hire, the City of London Corporation and the capital's Mayor, Boris Johnson. And it asks why – despite the UK government decrying the “fundamental unfairness of the rescue” of the banks – it shows no appetite for reform of the City to pre-empt another banking crisis.

An Inside Job reveals a well oiled revolving door between the finance industry, the government and its regulators, and opens a door onto the cosy social world they inhabit together (which includes many breakfasts, lunches and dinners).

Crucially, it asks whether the public now has a right to know a lot more about these relationships and the deals being concocted between government and the finance industry, in light of the taxpayer rescue of the banks.

An Inside Job concludes by making the case for compulsory transparency rules for lobbyists. Without such disclosure, it argues, the cosy lobbying networks of the City can continue to influence decision-making without fear of scrutiny or public debate: exactly the kind of culture that got us into the mess in the first place.

Download An Inside Job – a snapshot of political schmoozing by the City (pdf).