History
In 1836, due to the obvious conflict of interest, the Clerks of the House were debarred from carrying out what had been a lucrative line of agency work. Parliamentary Agents expanded into the space left by the clerk and formed the Society of Parliamentary Agents in 1840.
The high point for Parliamentary Agency work was during the mid 19th century during the rise of the Railway industry, as these companies often needed Parliamentary powers in building and running their operations. This was a source of political controversy, since Railway directors were becoming seen to be overly powerful, leading the Prime Minister at the time, William Ewart Gladstone, to identify Parliamentary Agents as ‘the deeper power in opposition’.
Read more about this topic: Parliamentary Agents
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—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)