Nick Clegg has stepped back from leading the government's planned reforms of the lobbying industry following concerns his wife's involvement in the business would be a conflict of interest, potentially setting back the timetable for reform significantly.
According to the Daily Mail, the deputy prime minsiter has officially disqualified himself from heading any judgement on the issues.
He has instead taken a more peripheral role on the matter, passing important duties the Conservative minister for political and constitutional reform Mark Harper.
Clegg's wife Miriam has been employed by a number of companies with large lobbying arms and currently works at Dechert, an American legal firm with European lobbying powers.
Although her current work has little to no involvement in the lobbying in Britain, a spokesman for Clegg said the Lib Dem leader "felt it was important there should not be any possibility of the perception of any conflict of interest".
Clegg had previously pledged to cut the influence of lobbyists by introducing an official register by 2011, but it now appears that the reform will lose momentum and could drag on for years.
Given the controversy around lobbying firm Bell Pottinger recently, critics say that reform is more necessary than ever, and Clegg's departure will only weaken the effort to reform the business.
Bell Pottinger were caught by undercover journalists offering influence over and access to David Cameron and George Osborne.
The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency's Tamasin Cave said: "The fact that we no longer have a senior minister pushing this through is a serious cause for concern – it leaves the whole thing rudderless."
Cave added: "It is also a damning indictment of where we are that someone as senior as Nick Clegg has to abdicate responsibility for something as serious as lobbying because of his wife."
Clegg himself is a former lobbyist, having worked at Belgian group GPlus.