BRITISH companies have spent more than $165 million (£93.7 million) since 1998 with an American lobbying industry that is being described by US Democrats as “part of a poison tree of corruption”.

This week both the Republicans and the Democrats have announced proposals to clean up Washington lobbying after the scandal over Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to using gifts of money, lavish meals and foreign trips to buy political influence. Although British lobbying represents less than 10 per cent of this vast network’s earnings, British spending in 2004 totalled almost $30 million.

One British company that has employed lobbyists extensively in recent years is Sportingbet, the online gambling company, which is listed as having spent $1.62 million since 1998, and $760,000 in 2004 alone. Until recently, Sportingbet used the firm Greenberg, Traurig LLP, where Mr Abramoff had been the top lobbyist for many years. There is no evidence that Mr Abramoff lobbied himself for Sportingbet, but Neil Voltz, a former aide to Bob Ney, a Republican Congressman, is shown to have been employed. Both Mr Voltz, one of 2,200 former federal employees registered as lobbyists, and Mr Ney are the subject of a congressional inquiry, which could yet implicate scores of US politicians or their staff in the scandal.

Nigel Payne, the chief executive of Sportingbet, denied having met Mr Voltz. He said that all his dealings had been with Ronald Platt, a respected lobbyist, who has since moved to a different firm. Sportingbet, he said, had been campaigning for the regulation of online gaming, the legality of which in the US remains a grey area. Mr Payne emphasised that two thirds of his company’s expenditure was not strictly lobbying, but fees for legal or other services conducted by Mr Platt.

According to Alex Knott, the political editor of the Centre for Public Integrity, British lobbying in Washington was higher than for any other country, and was more than the total spent by 35 American states.

The highest spenders were GlaxoSmithKline ($32.4 million), BP ($26.8 million), HSBC ($23.8 million), Reed Elsevier ($12.5 millon) and Reuters ($12.2 million). Defence manufacturers, such as Rolls Royce, have, Mr Knott suggested, obtained particularly good value for money. Rolls Royce has spent $2.9 million on lobbying since 1998, while obtaining $1.8 billion in US defence contracts.

Mr Knott said that 86 per cent of these were “non-bid contracts”, for which Rolls Royce would have faced no competition. “That was the result of some pretty effective lobbying,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Democrats sought to pin the blame for the lobbying scandals on Republicans. The Republicans have promised to tighten lobbying-disclosure rules, as well as to curb gifts from outside interests to politicians.

The Democrats laid out similar measures but included a provision to shut down ventures such as the K Street Project, through which Republicans exert pressure on lobbying groups to employ Republicans, and direct funds to their causes. “The Republicans have turned Congress into an auction house for sale to the highest bidder,” Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, said.

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