Politics
Starmer picks corporate lobbyist for Gorton & Denton
Keir Starmer’s pick – after blocking Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – to contest the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester is a corporate lobbyist who supports NHS privatisation.
Angeliki Stogia wants to bring back ‘PFI’, the so-called ‘private finance initiative’ used by the Labour right to turn NHS hospitals into cash-cows for private investors. Her record is captured in an excellent and damning Bluesky thread by @labourrightwatch:
Instead of Burnham, Labour have anointed Angeliki Stogia for #GortonAndDenton.Yet again, they try to force a corporate stooge (a lobbyist) into office instead of someone who stands for the rights + wellbeing of citizens.She was IDed as a lobbyist in 2024archive.ph/r1nnA
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T10:44:28.345Z
Angeliki Stogia’s role at Arup. Arup are a global construction advisory firm that donated £33k to minister Darren Jones in the form of a secondee to work in his office.
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T10:54:50.333Z
So, what do Arup do?They ask giant corporations what their wishlist is, and then get govt to enact it.www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-mone…
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T11:05:28.659Z
It appears that Stogia’s role was in managing community relations (stifling opposition) during public consultations and rollout of Arup’s projects for clients such as the National Grid. The ‘Great Grid Upgrade’ drew anger from locals over the choice to use pylons instead of underground cabling.
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T12:24:46.919Z
In a 2023 advertorial in the New Statesman paid for by Arup, Stogia opines that the only way to revive our services is though public private partnerships – benefitting her employer, Arup. Stogia doesn’t seem to be a fan of public ownership of infrastructure.www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/ec…
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T12:35:12.660Z
In the paid content article, Stogia writes that we need “strong private sector collaboration” and that we must “get the public and private sector working in lockstep”.
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T12:36:26.955Z
..and insists “Policymakers must find new ways to stimulate private sector investment, not only for building new homes but also in new schools, hospitals, transport networks and the transition to net zero.” She adds “Businesses need to be confident that there will be a return on their investment”.
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T12:36:41.730Z
– Arup’s business model relies on public private partnerships (PPPs). It wins a huge amount of govt contracts in the UK and globally.- Arup’s global revenue for 2024/25 was £2.16 billion. – Arup’s carbon footprint for the year ending March 2023 was 193,569 tCO2e.
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T12:40:34.434Z
Arup relies on public money for its profits but is very pro-privatesector:It accused Dept for Transport of failing to co-operate suffieciently with the private sector on the High Speed 2 (HS2) project in 2021.www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/dft-r…
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T12:43:54.420Z
Some of Arup’s clients/projects:The failed Garden Bridge project; datacentres for HSBC & Citigroup; private water firms Severn Trent + United Utilities; the Environment Agency; Persimmon; Canary Wharf group; Cuadrilla; Crossrail; 2012 Olymics London; Beijing Olympics; Spirit energy carbon storage.
— Exposing the Labour Right 🥀✊🇵🇸 (@labourrightwatch.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T12:48:18.538Z
And the account ends by highlighting Stogia’s specific commitment to PFI, which has heaped massive and exorbitantly expensive debt onto the NHS to make huge and long-term profits for private investors:
PFI, according to the government’s National Audit Office, has:
the effect of increasing the cost of finance for public investments relative to what would be available to the government if it borrowed on its own account … the price of finance is significantly higher with a PFI.
The Greens have promised to renationalise the NHS and other vital public services. Local Green party members have overwhelmingly selected local plumber Hannah Spencer as the party’s candidate. Spencer is the bookies’ favourite to win the seat.
Featured image via the Canary