Tory Aide Sought Jobs With Lobbyists He Leaked Report To

Russell Ullyatt derailed the Commons finance committee by emailing a confidential budget report to five lobbyists.

At least Julian Assange claims to have altruistic motives. Ullyatt was just trying to impress people when he leaked a finance committee report to lobbyists on Nov. 18. He admitted yesterday he had applied for jobs at the lobbying firms that he gave the report to, raising concerns about the cozy relationship between lobbyists and staffers inside government. Ullyatt was working for Conservative MP Kelly Block at the time and was fired the next day, but the damage was already done; MPs on the committee decided to shelve the report because it had been compromised, and consequently the next budget will have no input from a committee considered one of the few avenues of non-Conservative input into the budget process.