BMA - British Medical AssociationCore insiderSectional
Junior doctors' strikes 2023-24. Largest sustained industrial action in NHS history. Forced government back to the table multiple times; secured a 22% pay deal under Labour in September 2024.
Use it for: sectional + insider lobbying + media campaign + industrial action combining. The BMA showed an insider group can use outsider tactics when negotiation fails.
NFU - National Farmers UnionCore insiderSectional
Permanent consultative relationship with DEFRA. Helped shape the post-CAP Environmental Land Management Scheme 2020-24. Then mobilised mass protests in central London Nov 2024 against the inheritance-tax change.
Use it for: the textbook core insider example. The Nov 2024 farming protest also showed core insiders mobilising outsider tactics when government breaks the implicit deal.
Stellantis (Vauxhall / Citroen / Fiat)Core insider (de facto)Corporate
2024-25. Threatened to close Vauxhall Luton and Ellesmere Port plants over the ZEV (zero-emission vehicle) mandate. Westminster eased the rules. Ford joined the same lobbying push.
Use it for: the contemporary blurring of pressure-group / corporate-lobbyist line. A corporation can effectively become a core insider through its scale and the threat of closures.
ASH - Action on Smoking and HealthSpecialist insiderCause
Drove the Health Act 2006 (smoking in public places ban). Worked closely with DHSC on technical regulations including plain packaging 2016. Still consulted on Sunak's 2024 phased tobacco ban.
Use it for: the specialist insider model. ASH wins policy through expert technical contribution, not mass mobilisation.
ClientEarthSpecialist insiderCause
Environmental lawyers who use judicial review. Won air quality cases in 2015, 2016 and 2018 forcing the government to produce a compliant Air Quality Plan. Continuing climate-policy court challenges 2023-25.
Use it for: the judicial-review route. A cause group becomes effective by being technical and legal, not mass-mobilising.
Just Stop Oil (JSO)OutsiderCause / direct action
Climate direct-action group 2022-24. M25 blockades, art attacks (Van Gogh soup), sports disruption. Stopped activities March 2025 citing strategic shift. Never won a single policy reversal.
Use it for: the agenda-setting without policy-shifting argument. Kept climate visible, drove the Public Order Act 2023, no actual oil licences cancelled. The counter-case for outsider effectiveness.
Insulate BritainOutsiderCause / direct action
Sept-Nov 2021. Blocked M25 and major motorways. Demanded universal home insulation. Triggered Section 78 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (new public-order offences) — policy moved against them.
Use it for: the unintended-consequence argument. Direct action provoked tighter protest law without winning the original demand.
Marcus Rashford free school meals 2020Outsider (single-issue)Cause
June 2020. Single celebrity campaign via Twitter / social media forced a Westminster U-turn on extending free school meals through the summer holidays during COVID. Won inside 48 hours.
Use it for: the "celebrity + social media + clear ask" outsider model that does win policy. Counter-case to JSO/Insulate Britain.
StonewallInsider then outsiderCause
Founded 1989. Inside the Blair-era equality machine through 2000s; then increasingly criticised in 2020s over the trans rights debate; lost government and BBC institutional support 2021-22. Now operating more outsider.
Use it for: the shifting access argument. A pressure group's tier can change as the political climate shifts — Stonewall went from core insider on LGB equality to contested outsider on trans rights.
LibertySpecialist + outsiderCause
Civil liberties pressure group. Repeatedly challenged the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (Snoopers' Charter) and the Public Order Act 2023 in court. Mixed model — public-facing campaigns plus judicial review.
Use it for: the mixed-tactic cause group. Liberty combines outsider campaigning with insider-style legal expertise.
Amnesty InternationalOutsider (global)Cause
Founded 1961. Global membership-based cause group on human rights. Influences UK policy via international shaming campaigns and reports. Recent example: 2023-24 reporting on UK Rwanda removals; submissions to UN Universal Periodic Review.
Use it for: the international cause group whose influence on UK policy works through reputation rather than direct lobbying.
IEA - Institute of Economic AffairsThink tankTufton Street
Free-market think tank. Drove key intellectual content of the Truss-Kwarteng mini-budget September 2022 (corporation tax cut, 45p tax cut). Personnel pipeline into No 10 (Mark Littlewood).
Use it for: the "other influences" Q2a question. Think tanks now plausibly bigger drivers of tax policy than any pressure group.
Adam Smith Institute (ASI)Think tankTufton Street
Free-market think tank. Influential on planning reform proposals, freeports, supply-side reform throughout the 2019-24 parliament. Personnel and ideas pipeline into Conservative government.
Use it for: the Tufton Street ecosystem argument. The pluralist-democracy critique: how plural is it if the same eight buildings dominate the supply of free-market policy ideas?
IPPR and Resolution FoundationThink tanks (centre-left)Centre-left
Influential centre-left think tanks. Resolution Foundation's research on minimum wage and cost of living shaped Labour's 2024 economic narrative. IPPR's industrial strategy proposals are tracked in Labour policy.
Use it for: evidence that think-tank influence is not just a right-wing phenomenon. Both major parties now have think-tank ecosystems shaping policy.
Greensill - Cameron lobbying scandal 2021Lobbying caseCorporate lobbyist
David Cameron lobbied Sunak (then Chancellor) and senior Treasury officials via text messages on behalf of Greensill Capital. Triggered Boardman Review. Revealed gaps in the Transparency of Lobbying Act 2014.
Use it for: the "lobbyists and corporations" P1.1.3.c question. The argument that informal lobbying outside the statutory regime is the real story.
Transparency of Lobbying Act 2014Regulatory caseLobbying regime
Cameron-era response to earlier scandals. Created a register of consultant lobbyists. Widely criticised as toothless — covers only third-party lobbyists not in-house corporate lobbying. Greensill 2021 exposed the gap.
Use it for: the regulation-is-weak argument on the lobbying side.