No 10 adviser met Google, Meta and Apple in secret: report
Key Points
- Starmer's chief business adviser Varun Chandra held 16 undisclosed meetings with Google, Meta, Apple and other US tech firms between October 2024 and October 2025.
- The meetings covered AI policy, UK regulation and Trump-era trade dynamics, yet none appeared on any public transparency register.
- Special advisers face no legal requirement to publish their meeting logs, unlike ministers, creating a significant accountability gap.
- Chandra retains financial stakes in Hakluyt Capital, an AI-focused investment fund with NHS-linked portfolio companies, while advising the government on AI and tech policy.
- Transparency campaigners are calling for the loophole to be closed as part of the ongoing Ethics and Integrity Commission review of UK lobbying rules.
Varun Chandra, Keir Starmer’s most senior business adviser, held 16 undisclosed meetings with executives from Google, Meta, Apple, and other major US tech firms over 12 months, none of which appeared on any public register
The meetings took place between October 2024 and October 2025 and covered regulatory changes, AI policy, and the implications of Donald Trump’s second administration, the Guardian reports.
In at least one meeting, Chandra offered to broker a direct introduction between a tech executive and the prime minister. UK users of the platforms involved had no way of knowing the talks were taking place.
Current transparency rules mean special advisers, even those with significant influence, do not have to declare their meetings with external companies, so the public cannot know who is meeting some of the most influential people in government.
Ministers must publish details of their meetings; their advisers do not. Chandra sits outside that requirement entirely.
Who is Varun Chandra?
Chandra joined Downing Street in July 2024 as Special Adviser on Business and Investment, having spent five years as managing partner at Hakluyt and Company, a Mayfair corporate intelligence firm.
He has since been appointed the UK’s Special Envoy to the United States on Trade and Investment.
That role placed him at the centre of UK trade talks with Washington at the same time the undisclosed tech meetings were taking place.
Hakluyt grew its UK revenues by 30% in the year after Chandra left to join the government, making it the firm’s second-highest rate of annual UK growth in six years.
Chandra’s remaining stake in the firm entitled him to a payout of around £112,000 in the same period, while he worked at Downing Street.
He also retains a stake in Hakluyt Capital, a $50 million investment fund that has backed several AI firms, including health tech company Viz.AI, which holds a multimillion-pound NHS contract.
Parliament’s Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee recommended amending the rules so that special advisers’ meetings are made public, but the previous government rejected the proposal. Downing Street has since indicated to openDemocracy that it considers the current rules adequate.
Critics argue the arrangement represents a glaring loophole and that with the Ethics and Integrity Commission currently reviewing lobbying rules, the government needs to act before the next scandal breaks.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said Chandra had made all relevant declarations and that conflicts of interest are managed through recusals where appropriate, but declined to specify how this operated in practice.
