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Derek Draper was a New Labour insider and lobbyist who was at the centre of a scandal about political lobbying known as "Lobbygate", the "Cash for Access" scandal, or "Drapergate".

He attended the University of Manchester, where he was first spotted by Peter Mandelson, and employed by the latter as his assistant for four years. He then worked as Political Editor of the Modern Review, the revolutionary culture magazine set up by Toby Young and Julie Burchill, which showcased rising stars such as Will Self and Nick Hornby. Next he became a lobbyist and set up the New Labour organisation Progress.

Draper should be credited as one of the brains behind the development of "New Labour", however this inevitably won him critics as well as friends. In 1999, he was working as a lobbyist for GPC Market Access, as Director of Progress, and as an Express journalist when he became embroiled in the first major scandal of Blair's government. It was alleged that he was receiving prior notice of important Government decisions. It was also alleged that he was able to have an undue influence on Government decisions. The revelations were made by an Observer journalist, Greg Palast.

Draper was much derided for his boast that "There are 17 people who count in this government. And to say I am intimate with every one of them is the understatement of the century."

Palast has subsequently stated that the subsequent media coverage got his story wrong, and that it wasn't primarily about boastful lobbyists, "the real story was about Tony Blair and his inner circle." Draper, he said, was "nothing more than a messenger boy, a factotum, a purveyor, a self-loving, over-scented clerk." GPC was at the centre of the lobbygate 'cash for access' scandal. The journalist Greg Palast exposed the scandal of 'secretive business influence over policy-making', revealing how New Labour lobbyists were 'working to create a US-style interpenetration of corporations and government'.

Behind the scandal are the powerful biotech interests led by Monsanto and followup to Palast's story were covered in depth by GMWatch[1].

Draper lost his various jobs and retrained as a psychotherapist. He now writes a column for the Mail on Sunday on psychotherapy issues. He is the author of a chapter in The Future of the NHS (2006) (ISBN 1-85811-369-5).

In July 2005, GMTV presenter Kate Garraway announced live on air that she was pregnant and engaged to Draper, whom she married later in the year, and covered in an OK! magazine exclusive. The couple celebrated the birth of their first child, a baby girl, Darcey, on 10 March, 2006.

• http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_n4404_v127/ai_21201255
• http://www.derekdraper.net/
• http://www.progressives.org.uk/
• http://www.thefutureofthenhs.com/