Cambridge Analytica 'met SNP' to pitch services

Former Cambridge Analytica director Brittany Kaiser said the firm had held meetings with the SNP

Cambridge Analytica pitched its services to the SNP in meetings in London and Edinburgh, a former director at the consultancy firm has claimed.

The company has come under scrutiny following controversy about its use of Facebook data and political tactics.

Former director Brittany Kaiser told MPs that Cambridge Analytica had tried to win work with the SNP.

The party said an external consultant had held one meeting with the firm, and had declared them "a bunch of cowboys".

The analytics company is at the centre of a dispute about the harvesting and use of personal data.

It also came under fire after its boss Alexander Nix was filmed by an undercover reporter apparently giving examples of how the firm could discredit political rivals by arranging smear campaigns. The firm denies these claims, although Mr Nix has since been suspended.

'Pitches and negotiations'

Ms Kaiser, a former director of program development at the consultancy, took part in a question session with Westminster's culture committee on Tuesday.

She was questioned by SNP MP Brendan O'Hara on what work the firm had carried out in the UK, highlighting a claim on an archived website that it had "worked on three UK election campaigns".

Ms Kaiser said she had "never seen" the website live online, but added that "I do know that we have been in pitches and negotiations with UK parties in the past, such as the SNP".

Asked to elaborate by Mr O'Hara, who appeared surprised by the claim, she said: "I believe that there were meetings that took place in London where individuals came down from Edinburgh to visit us at our Mayfair headquarters, and then further meetings were undertaken in Edinburgh near the parliament."

Brendan O'Hara challenged Ms Kaiser over what work Cambridge Analytica had done in the UK

When asked who was involved in the meetings, Ms Kaiser said she could check through old emails and update the committee in due course.

Mr O'Hara said: "There was no work done, in any UK elections, for any political party, but you suddenly have a memory of meetings you were at with the SNP?"

Ms Kaiser replied that "pitches are very different from work undertaken", before noting that "a small piece of work" had been carried out for UKIP at the time of the EU referendum.

Mr O'Hara also questioned whether the company had pitched for work during the 2014 independence referendum, something whistleblower Christopher Wylie had previously suggested.

Ms Kaiser said: "I don't believe any work was undertaken. It would have been for research modelling and for targeted communications within Scotland."

Asked if she knew which organisations Cambridge Analytica had pitched to at this time, Ms Kaiser said: "I don't, no, but I could try and find out for you because I do have a significant amount of emails and documentation from that time."

'Bunch of cowboys'

The SNP has said only one meeting was held, via an external consultant, and that he had taken a dim view of the company's pitch.

A spokesman for the party said: "The SNP has never worked with Cambridge Analytica. An external consultant had one meeting in London.

"His assessment was that they were 'a bunch of cowboys', which turned out to be true. No further meetings were held."

The SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford had previously pressed Prime Minister Theresa May on Tory links to Cambridge Analytica's parent company, SCL Group.

The Scottish Conservatives said that if Ms Kaiser's claims were true, "the hypocrisy from the nationalists is jaw-dropping".