Letter from CIPR CEO Jane Wilson published in the Times, 28 March 2012

Sir, Your leading article ("Cash for Access", Mar 26) conflates what you call "the murky world of party funding and the even murkier world of lobbying into one unholy miasma".

Your assertion about lobbying is unfairly sweeping. Lobbying is an essential part of the democratic process with an important relationship to freedom of speech. Professional lobbyists operate to a high standard of conduct. The leading professional bodies have codes of conduct backed by rigorous disciplinary procedures. It is wrong to associate professional, ethical lobbyists with the small number of people who seek undue influence. Democracy is at greater risk from greed than it is from lobbying.

Jane Wilson
Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Institute of Public Relations