Microsoft faces claims it threatened MPs with job cuts in constituencies

Conservative party strategy chief Steve Hilton attacks lobbying industry with allegation that company aggressively targeted MPs over IT reform

Microsoft executives telephoned Conservative MPs threatening to shut down a facility in their local area because of planned IT reforms, David Cameron's former strategy chief has claimed.

Steve Hilton, who worked for Cameron in opposition and for two years in Downing Street, made the allegation as he argued the dominance of corporate lobbying in the UK was leading to bad policy-making.