''The Parliamentary Review'' is a British
pay-to-publish journal, with organisations having to write their own copy and pay £3,500 for it to be published.
The journal is owned by Westminster Publications Ltd, a for-profit venture that is not affiliated with Parliament or the UK government.
History
It was established in 2012 by Daniel Yossman, then a 23-year-old graduate in Russian and business management from the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
.
Eric Pickles
Eric Jack Pickles, Baron Pickles, (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar from 1992 to 2017. He served in David Cameron's Cabinet as Secretary of State for ...
was appointed chairman of the publication in 2017, and former home secretary
David Blunkett
David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...
was appointed as co-chair in 2018.
Previous editions have featured forewords from high-profile politicians such as prime ministers
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...
and
David Cameron alongside chancellor
Philip Hammond
Philip Hammond, Baron Hammond of Runnymede (born 4 December 1955) is a British politician and life peer who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019, Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, and Defence Secretary from 2011 to 2014. ...
and secretaries of state
Esther McVey
Esther Louise McVey (born 24 October 1967) is a British politician and television presenter serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Minister of State for Housing and Pl ...
,
Michael Gove,
Chris Grayling
Christopher Stephen Grayling (born 1 April 1962) is a British Conservative Party politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Transport from 2016 to 2019. He has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Epsom and Ewell since 2001. ...
,
Gavin Williamson
Sir Gavin Alexander Williamson (born 25 June 1976) is a British politician who most recently served as Minister of State without Portfolio from 25 October to 8 November 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Staffordshire s ...
and
Damian Hinds. The review also regularly features forewords from the chief executives of industry-leading trade bodies, such as
TechUK, the
British Retail Consortium
The British Retail Consortium (or BRC) is a trade association for retail businesses in the United Kingdom.
History
The British Retail Consortium was formed in January 1992 with the merger of the British Retailers' Association and the Retail ...
, the
Federation of Master Builders
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is a UK trade association established in 1941 to protect the interests of small and medium-sized building firms.
The group is independent and non-profit. It works to lobby for members' interests at both n ...
,
EEF and the
British Property Federation
British Property Federation (BPF) is a not-for-profit membership organisation representing companies involved in property ownership and investment.
The BPF “work with Government and regulatory bodies to help the real estate industry grow and th ...
.
''The Parliamentary Review'' sends letters inviting organisations to be represented in the publication. It has received criticism for the charges, sometimes up to £4,000, that are made to some of the organisations that take them up on the invitation, as well as for implying that it has links to parliament. This criticism has been highlighted by articles in the national press, including ''
The Daily Mirror
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'',
''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'',
and Schools Week.
In particular, the publication and its publishers have been accused of misleading headteachers of schools across England. School leaders have reported being led to believe they were being singled-out for commendation for their good work, but were then asked to stump up thousands of pounds to be featured.
In 2019, the
Advertising Standards Authority investigated three issues raised against ''The Parliamentary Review'' and on 6 November 2019 upheld the complaints. They concluded that the letters sent to businesses were not clearly identifiable as a marketing communication and that they were misleading in that they gave the impression of being an official government publication. Furthermore, they concluded that the articles within ''The Parliamentary Review'' were advertorials that should have been labelled as advertising.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parliamentary Review
2010 establishments in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 2010
Political publications