The gag is intended to prevent campaigners lobbying ministers on the issue, according to documents seen by the Guardian.
"We need stronger regulation to prevent secret lobbying, private political funding and pro-business bias at the heart of government".
In 2015, the ECP declined the NFU's first application and the government delayed publication of this decision in order to prevent campaigners lobbying ministers on the issue, according to documents seen by the Guardian.
Even as recently as July, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., unsuccessfully spearheaded an effort to prevent further lobbying by the firms on grounds that if they receive a government guarantee, they should be barred from influencing lawmakers on mortgage banking issues.
The Senate prevents any lobbying of the entire body for a year.
The chairman, Keith Vaz, said the committee would consider creating a similar system for former police officers as exists for former government ministers, prevented from lobbying for two years.
Under existing rules, senior armed forces officers or civil servants are in theory prevented from lobbying ministers or Whitehall departments within two years of leaving the MoD (or any other department – health is another area rife with conflicts of interest).
But the government refuses to name these people in order, it says, to prevent them being lobbied.
Andrew Lansley, the leader of the House of Commons, said the government was not seeking to prevent or deter lobbying but to ensure there was maximum transparency.
Of course, once the provision is in place, there is nothing to prevent NetJets from lobbying to extend that provision in 2016 to delay its expiration.
