EUK Consulting

EUK Consulting is a European public affairs consultancy, which has a long history of working with British American Tobacco.

Background

EUK Consulting was established in 2000, and has offices in London, UK and Brussels, Belgium.¹

Its website states that the company are “Specialists in the management of regulation, corporate reputation and stakeholder relationships”.¹

It was first registered on the EU Transparency Register in March 2009.²³

Relationship with Tobacco Companies

British American Tobacco (BAT) has been a client since EUK Consulting was set up.⁴⁵⁶

EUK has also listed BAT subsidiary Nicoventures as a client.⁶⁷

Key staff previously worked for Philip Morris International (PMI). See People below.

Activities

EUK Consulting’s website states that it offers services related to “Tobacco, Nicotine and Harm Reduction”.⁸

According to its entry on the EU Transparency Register, BAT is one of its biggest clients.²³ Its 2026 register entry states that it lobbies for BAT on “ESG, Green Deal, waste policy, Single-use plastics Directive, sustainable finance”.³ Previous entries have listed tobacco taxation and packaging.³

EUK Consulting also lists membership of the British Chamber of Commerce EU & Belgium, and the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg.³

BAT’s European CSR Initiative

EUK Consulting worked with BXL Consulting on BAT’s EU corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.⁹ Corporate Europe Observatory reported how BAT were using CSR and ‘stakeholder dialogue’ as a lobbying tool, without declaring the full costs in the transparency register.¹⁰

• See also: CSR Strategy

People

• John Roberts – Founder. He previously worked for PMI in government relations roles.¹¹
• David Bertram – Director. Joined EUK in 2001. He previously worked for PMI in corporate affairs roles.¹¹¹²
• Sean Murray – Director. Joined EUK in 2003 to set up its Brussels office. He previously worked for PMI in media and government relations roles.¹²¹³ He has also held roles at the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium.

A list of current staff can be found on the EUK Consulting website (see below).¹²

Political Donations

Records of the British Electoral Commission show that EUK Consulting regularly donated to British political parties between 2003 and 2010, mainly to those in power at the time:¹⁴¹⁵

• Over GB£80,000 to the British Labour party, whilst they were in government.
• Three donations in 2009 totalling GB£10,000 to the Conservatives in May, June and September, ahead of the May 2010 general election, and a further GB£9,000 two months after they won.
• A donation of GB£3,000 donation to the Liberal Democrats in September 2009.¹⁴¹⁶¹⁷

EUK also paid for hospitality for Conservative MP Christopher Chope;¹⁸ Labour MP George Foulkes;¹⁹ and Sir Simon Milton, London Deputy Mayor and Boris Johnson’s chief of staff.²⁰²¹

• See also: Tobacco Industry Hospitality for UK Politicians

Relevant Link

EUK Consulting website

Tobacco Tactics Resources

Lobbying Decision Makers

Third Party Techniques