Oil giant’s lobbying firm provided ‘admin support’ to MPs investigating energy crisis

Calls for greater oversight of parliamentary groups after concerns raised about Tory backbench committee

A lobbying firm whose clients include the oil giant BP provided administrative support" to a committee of Conservative MPs conducting an inquiry into the energy crisis.

Crowne Associates took meeting minutes and helped compile reports for the 1922 backbench committee on business, energy and industrial strategy. The influential sub-committee, chaired by the former business secretary Andrea Leadsom, went on to recommend policies sympathetic to the oil and gas industry, including calling for a loosening of planning laws to enable fracking.