WHAT A BUNCH OF AMATEURS

‎"… it's time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying in

our country and forced our politics to come clean about who is

buying power and influence." David Cameron, February 2010

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As the row in the media over the Government's proposed NPPF and the presumption in favour of sustainable development rages on, we have been working to dispel the inaccuracies portrayed by the main opposition - the National Trust, supported by the Council for the Protection of Rural England....

Greg Clark and his officials are, however, deeply concerned at the level of opposition that has been provoked by the National Trust and are worried that Number 10 might be spooked by this mobilisation of middle England and do the sort of U turn that they did on the forestry sell-off.

We have been firing off letters to the press, and have sent a letter to No 10 supported by the leading developers in the commercial property industry...

The upshot of all this is that Minister Greg Clark is delighted with the BPF and hugely grateful for our efforts.

He is of the opinion that the Chancellor will stand firm in the face of opposition from National Trust members in the shires - but he doesn't believe we can afford to let up and should seize every opportunity to press the case for planning reform. We are not, of course, a mouthpiece for CLG ministers but on this occasion their objectives definitely align with ours - so we can afford to be enthusiastic in our support, with the advantage that we have now earned more brownie points than we could ever imagine!

Best,

Ghislaine

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The planning minister, Greg Clark, has privately urged developers to lobby David Cameron lest the pressure from the Tory shires becomes to strong and Osborne folds his tent. In light of Mr Cameron's statement, and the above email from the lobbyists to their planning committee, can Mr Clark remain a minister?

Answers on a post card marked for the attention of Louise.

Photograph: Rural England at its most impressive