Bell Pottinger: Lobbying unmasked

Written By: - Date published: 11:36 pm, December 16th, 2011 - 5 comments
Categories: uk politics - Tags: ,

I first became aware of the Bureau of Investigative Journalists latest work with Kim Hill’s interview last Saturday.  The Bureau’s been investigating lobbying, and more specifically, Britain’s top PR firm (as rated by PRWeek and Marketing magazine for the past 4 years), Bell Pottinger (headed by Thatcher’s former media adviser, Lord Bell).

The ultimate sting ended up being posing as an Uzbekistani company aiming to improve Uzbekistan’s image on behalf of their government, and increase trade.  Uzbekistan is thought to use child labour in state cotton mills among other human rights violations that led to it featuring in Freedom House’s “Worst of the Worst” regimes.

What they recorded was senior people at the firm claiming to have serious influence over the British government.  They boasted of contacts in all the main 3 parties, but particularly the Conservative Party.  PM David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne and Foreign Office Minister William Hague, along with Cameron’s chief of staff, and Cameron’s closest adviser were all friends of the lobbyists, so they could get their message heard at the very top.

For GBP100,000/month (plus some minor improvements in Uzbekistan’s human rights to be able to spin) they could start organising such things as a visit by David Cameron, or even a Royal.  They’d massage search engine results so that if you looked up ‘uzbek child labour’ the first several pages would be stories about what Uzbekistan was doing about it, rather than criticism.  They’d adjust Wikipedia, removing criticism, and adding praise.  They could arrange MPs to attack certain current affairs shows’ credibility.

Former clients include Augusto Pinochet and the Pinochet foundation, the government of Belarus, the president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh, the President of Sri Lanka (re: attacks on Tamils) and Russian oligarch Boris Berozovsky.  They still act for Trafigura, famous for their super-injunction trying to stop reporting of the House of Commons about their toxic oil spill that killed 15 and injured thousands.  More recently they started acting for News of the World’s former head Rebekah Wade – just to connect current British scandals.

They have more mundane clients as well, including Dyson, who they boasted of having within a day managed to get a scheduled meeting between Cameron and the Chinese Premier to include discussion about Chinese rip-offs of Dyson products.

Such is the level of power and influence that they offered as a prize at the last Conservative annual conference 2 weeks work experience with them.  Yes you get to work for them for free for 2 weeks as a high-value fundraising prize…

Now that this has surfaced MPs have been forced to have a select committee investigation into lobbying.  Most MPs believe there is a need for a register of lobbyists and their interests, but not quite a majority of Conservative MPs…

The loopholes that cause the problem are very similar to the loopholes here.  We also are lacking the transparency of a register of lobbyists and their interests.  And we also have former MPs with a parliamentary pass free to walk the corridors and lobby their friends without openness.

Perhaps it’s something that we need to look at as well – before we have a scandal, rather than after it…

5 comments on “Bell Pottinger: Lobbying unmasked ”

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  1. CnrJoe 1
    17 December 2011 at 6:57 am

    Plenty of scandal to come BUNJI. Are Pansy Wong and Richard Worth lobbyists now? Do they have passes?
    It twer a fascinating interview too…..

  2. Jenny 2
    17 December 2011 at 8:43 am

    Investigative journalism (remember that?) has opened up Bell Pottinger, the UK’s top PR/lobby firm.

    BUNJI

    Hi Bunji, in answer to your rhetorical question; Investigative journalism starts with asking some simple questions of those in power.

    New Zealand’s powerful right wing lobby group, with their own security swipe cards to parliament, is to merge with another well funded conservative lobby group with special access to parliament, The New Zealand Institute.

    The question is, is this merger being done to double their influence?

    Will the government allow both organisations to keep their allotment of security swipe cards?

    How many of these cards do both groups have any way?

    Should they have any at all?

    Time for an OIA anyone?

    The story about the influence wielded by lobby groups is going begging in this country. Come on guys let’s open the lid on this can o’ worms.

    Lobbyists join forces: stuff.co.nz

    • seeker 2.1
      17 December 2011 at 3:50 pm

      @ jenny – thanks for providing this comment and link, you ask:

      “.. is this merger being done to double their influence?”

      I would think so judging by what the chairmen said about combining their ‘think tanks’.
      The chairmen of the New Zealand Institute and the New Zealand Roundtable, Tony Carter and Roger Partridge respectively, said,
      ” ….. their organisations shared common missions and by combining resources they could provide a stronger voice ………
      ….to promote social, economic and environmental policy with a view to improving the standards of living and welfare of all New Zealanders, they said.”

      What an admirable aim. Combine voices to promote public policy issues for the altruistic reason of “improving the standards of living and welfare of ALL New Zealanders.”

      Forgive me for laughing and adding the ‘tui’,”Yeh right!”

      Let me use my own ‘think tank’ to ‘view’ their idea of ‘promoting’. What springs to mind?
      Oh yes, privatising welfare (social policy); privatising more assets(economic policy); privatising water and irrigation and promoting more mining and oil drilling (environmental policy).

      Yay that should improve the standards of some new Zealanders, 1%, if not quite all, 99%.

      Not a bad outcome – it’s the usual acceptable ratio. Pats on backs and drinks all round. Cheers.

      I think lobby groups, think tanks, focus groups,advisory groups, consultancy groups, PR firms, recruitment agencies, film makers and other suchlike commendably respectable agencies should be investigated, just to make sure they are being properly supported in their invaluable work.( could also add here, noblesse oblige foreign lord ships.)

  3. Tom Gould 3
    17 December 2011 at 10:12 am

    Imagine if there were a ‘PR’ firm that peddled ‘access and influence’ and then had their clients fund and fete those very same politicians and their party? Wouldn’t that be naughty? Some UK journo – a real one not like the ones here – on the radio today described Key-style government as a ‘kleptocracy’. So true.

    • seeker 3.1
      17 December 2011 at 4:00 pm

      Thanx Tom, that was the word I was looking for today as I tried to succinctly string together a sentence with the words theft, assets and key’s national government.

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