It's good to hear I'm not the only one who thinks Labour's spin doctors are letting the PR side down. No less than Colin Byrne, Weber Shandwick’s chief and former Labour party chief press adviser says in PR Week today, “there’s no way these mistakes would have happened when Alistair Campbell was there.” He also compliments Conservative comms chief Andy Coulson for outmanouevering his opposite number.
Meanwhile, the client, no doubt fed up with the state of his public image, has escaped online, bypassing journalists altogether to commune direct with the electorate on You Tube. Good idea this, especially as press relations don't seem to be improving much under the charge of Labour's special press adviser whose approach is, according to Byrne, “just phoning up people and shouting at them.”
Perhaps with enough personal phone calls and vodcasts The PM can cut out the troublesome middlemen altogether. Might be easier to employ an effective PR though.
It seems like the whole Gordon Brown team is badly adrift. Sure Blair had plenty of very bad days but he also won three elections.
ROSS FURLONG
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