lobbying ang media, work with politicians and journalist

8/10/2019 Lobbying Ang Media, Work With Politicians and Journalist

1/79

A SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED REPORT

LOBBYING AND THE

MEDIA: WORKING WITH

POLITICIANS ANDJOURNALISTS

Michael Burrell

T H O R O G O O D

P R O F E S S I O N A L

I N S I G H T S


2/79

Blank page


3/79

Michael Burrell

LOBBYING AND THE MEDIA:WORKING WITH POLITICIANS AND JOURNALISTS

A Thorogood Report


4/79

Published by Thorogood

10-12 Rivington Street

London EC2A 3DU

t: 020 7749 4748

f: 020 7729 6110

e: [email protected]

w: www.thorogood.ws

Michael Burrell 2001

All rights reserved.No part of this

publication may be reproduced,stored in

a retrieval system or transmitted in any form

or by any means,electronic,photocopying,

recording or otherwise,without the prior

permission of the publisher.

This Report is sold subject to the

condition that it shall not,by way of trade

or otherwise,be lent,re-sold,hired out or

otherwise circulated without the publishers

prior consent in any form of binding or

cover other than in which it is published

and without a similar condition including

this condition being imposed upon

the subsequent purchaser.

No responsibility for loss occasioned to

any person acting or refraining from action as

a result of any material in this publication can

be accepted by the author or publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this Report

is available from the British Library.

ISBN 1 85418 240 4

Printed in Great Britain by printflow.com

Other Thorogood

Reports:

European Lobbying Guide

Bryan Cassidy

Internal Communications

James Farrant

Managing Reputation

in Cyberspace

David Phillips

Public Affairs Techniques

for Business

Peter Wynne-Davies

New Media in Corporate

Communications

Mic Cady

Managing Corporate

Reputation

Simon Scott

Practical Techniques for

Effective Lobbying

Charles Miller

Power over Stress

at Work

Dr Daniel Araoz

Strategic Customer

Planning

Alan Melkman


5/79

Acknowledgements

I could not have written this Report without the support and wisdom of many

of my colleagues and competitors.To the extent that it contains useful advice,

they should take much of the credit.To the extent that there are errors of fact or

judgement, they are mine alone.

I should particularly like to thank:Leighton Andrews (Westminster Strategy),Maurits

Bruggink (Grayling Political Strategy, Brussels), Howard Dawber (Bell Pottinger),

Jim Eadie (Strategy in Scotland),Richard Gordon (Stormont Strategy), Joy Johnson

(GPC),Heidi Lambert (Heidi Lambert Communications,Brussels),Matteo Maggiore

(Grayling Political Strategy,Brussels),Glyn Matthias (Strategy Wales),Huw Roberts

(Strategy Wales) and Laura Sandys.

Of the texts that I have consulted,I should particularly mention:Philip Norton,

The British Polity, Longman, 2001, Andrew Rawnsley, Servants of the People,

Hamish Hamilton,2000 and articles by Stephen Coleman, Research Director of

the Hansard Society.


6/79

The author

Michael Burrellwas educated at St Peters College, Oxford, where he read

Philosophy,Politics and Economics,specialising in international relations.He began

his journalistic career on newspapers in Durham and Brighton,before joining the

Parliamentary lobby. Based in the House of Commons press gallery,he reported

on both Westminster and Whitehall and the European Union, covering summit

meetings around Europe and plenary sessions of the European Parliament in

Strasbourg.

He began his career in lobbying in 1983,founding Westminster Strategy,of which

he is now Chairman,in 1986.Since 1999 he has been Chairman of the UK lobbying

industrys self-regulatory body,the Association of Professional Political Consultants

(APPC).


7/79

Contents

INTRODUCTION 1

1AN INTRODUCTION TO LOBBYING 3

What is lobbying? .........................................................................................4

Where does the word lobbyingcome from? ...............................................5

Lobbying in Washington ...............................................................................5

Lobbying in Britain and Brussels ..................................................................6

The cash-for-questions affair ........................................................................7

The Association of Professional Political Consultants ..................................9

2HOW TO LOBBY 11The rules of lobbying .................................................................................12

3 18Media exposure ..........................................................................................19

Circumstances to consider before promoting media interest ....................20

Circumstances where you would be well advised

to promote media interest ..........................................................................22

INVOLVING THE MEDIA THE CASE FOR

AND THE CASE AGAINST

C O N T E N T S


8/79

4WHITEHALL AND WESTMINSTER 24The senior civil service ..............................................................................25The power of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers ...........................27Where does power lie within the executive? .............................................28

Parliament ...................................................................................................28

The initiation and formulation of public policy in Britain .........................30

5 32The Downing Street Press Office ...............................................................33

The lobby ...................................................................................................35

The national media .....................................................................................36

6SCOTLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND 38Scotland ......................................................................................................39

Wales ..........................................................................................................41Northern Ireland ........................................................................................42

7 44The European Union ..................................................................................45The Brussels press corps ............................................................................47

Media targets ..............................................................................................49

THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE

BRUSSELS PRESS CORPS

THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE,

THE LOBBY AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA

C O N T E N T S


9/79

8MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS 51Lobbying and media relations campaigns ..................................................53

9THE INTERNET 55

The impact of the Internet on lobbying .....................................................56

The main political uses of the Internet ......................................................58

The role of online media in lobbying .........................................................59

Text messaging ...........................................................................................60

10 HOW TO WORK WITH JOURNALISTS 61The basic tools of media relations ..............................................................62

What to avoid when dealing with journalists .............................................65

CONCLUSION 69

C O N T E N T S


10/79

Introduction

This is a how-to guide:how to lobby,how to handle the media and when and how

to use media relations in support of direct lobbying. The practical advice is

primarily aimed at those who are both lobbying and dealing with journalists,

though it should equally be of some interest to those who are doing one or the

other.

Although many of the principles explained are applicable anywhere, it is

primarily designed to help consultants and in-house lobbyists based in the United

Kingdom and Brussels.

The first chapter provides an introduction to lobbying, explaining its origins,

describing the growth of professional lobbying in Britain and Brussels and looking

at recent controversies surrounding lobbying in Britain, notably cash for

questions and Drapergate.

This is followed by a how-toguide to ethical and effective lobbying,with a series

of concrete and practical tips on how best to make your case to officials and

politicians.

A central theme of the Report is the issue of whether and how to adopt a media

relations strategy in support of a lobbying campaign. Often, where a campaign

is well on the road to success or alternatively where the issues involved are very

technical,it makes no sense at all to involve the media and can even be damaging.

However,there will be many occasions when a media campaign can provide vital

support to lobbying and this Report offers clear guidance on when this is likely

to be so.

Although the general principles of dealing with politicians,officials and journalists

are the same the world over, the professional campaigner needs to be aware of

the specific political and media landscapes in the key locations where he (or she;

please accept he in this Report as a simple abbreviation) may need to operate.

So,after a whistle-stop tour of Whitehall and Westminster,the Report looks in detail

at the London media, including the Parliamentary lobby, as well as the media in

Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland. A review of the European Union institutions

is followed by a detailed overview of the Brussels press corps,perhaps the largest

single concentration of journalists in the world, and how to engage with it.

One of the situations where it will often be vital to run a co-ordinated lobbying

and media strategy will be in the case of a contested takeover bid.The Report

examines how lobbyists work with financial public relations consultants,lawyersand investment bankers to maximise the chances of success.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

1


11/79

It is only very recently that the Internet has come to play an important role in

both the economy and politics. The Report seeks to draw some tentative

conclusions about the role of the Internet in political lobbying.

Finally it concludes with a practical how-to guide to dealing with journalists,

reviewing the basic tools of any media strategy and listing some pitfalls to avoid.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

2


12/791chapter

An introduction to lobbying

W H A T I S L O B B Y I N G ?

W H E R E D O E S T H E W O R D L O B B Y I N G C O M E F R O M ?

L O B B Y I N G I N W A S H I N G T O N

L O B B Y I N G I N B R I T A I N A N D B R U S S E L S

T H E C A S H - F O R - Q U E S T I O N S A F F A I R

T H E A S S O C I A T I O N O F P R O F E S S I O N A L P O L I T I C A L C O N S U L T A N T S


13/79

Chapter 1:

An introduction to lobbying

What is lobbying?

The classic dictionary definition of lobbying would be something along the lines

of to attempt to influence legislators in the formulation of policy. In practice,

as we shall see,legislators are in reality only one of the groups that lobbyists seek

to target.

Although lobbying of various kinds is conducted around the world, its

development as a trade or profession is primarily an Anglo-Saxon concept and

has historically been treated with suspicion elsewhere for example, in France

and Germany though this is starting to change.

In Britain we can trace the origins of the right to lobby back to Magna Carta,the

charter granted by King John at Runnymede in 1215, recognising the rights and

privileges of the barons, church and freemen and, in particular, their right to

petition for redress of grievance.A lot of water has flowed under WestminsterBridge since then and power structures have changed dramatically,but the basic

concept is recognisable.

One of historys most famously aggrieved groups were the American colonies,

who resented their treatment at the hands of George III,fought a war to gain their

independence and have been deeply suspicious of authority ever since. Hence

the Bill of Rights,the first ten amendments to the United States constitution,added

in 1791,guaranteeing the liberty of the individual. More specifically, the Bill of

Rights enshrines the American respect for freedom of speech and forbids Congress

from enacting any law that would place obstacles in the way of the citizens rightto petition for redress of grievance.

So we can see that the right to lobby,as we would say today,is deeply entrenched

in Anglo-Saxon culture.Indeed,many would argue that it is that right for ones voice

to be heard that distinguishes democracies from totalitarian societies,a voice that

can be heard every few years in elections but that,in the Anglo-Saxon tradition at

least,requires channels for every-day use.

C H A P T E R 1 : A N I N T R O D U C T I O N T O L O B B Y I N G

4


14/79

Where does the word lobbying come from?

Prosaically, some say, from the word for a hall in a legislative building used formeetings between legislators and members of the public.Personally, I prefer to

believe the more colourful American version,which has it deriving from the lobby

of the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel, in downtown Washington DC, just two

blocks from the White House.

It was the bar at the Willard that was the favourite watering hole of Ulysses S.Grant,

commander in chief of the Union forces in the American Civil War and then US

President from 1869 to 1877. Grant, like many British politicians, was fond of

drowning his sorrows in whisky and, the story goes, those who wanted his help

when he was President quickly realised that the Willard was their best bet for anencounter. Hence they took to loitering in the hotel lobby to greet him as he

entered.

I think that sounds plausible.Every President since 1853 has slept or wined and

dined there and it was where Martin Luther King wrote his I have a dreamspeech.

If you visit the Willard today it still has an air of closeness to power and is often

full of lobbyists and the lobbied.

Lobbying in Washington

Perhaps because Washington has always been a one-industry town, with most

businesses based elsewhere,and partly because it is the most powerful capital

in the world,it was there that professional lobbying grew into a sizeable business

of its own in the last century.Today the Washington lobbying scene is the most

developed in the world and some,though by no means all, of its characteristics

have been or will be emulated elsewhere.

One feature of Washington that sets it apart from London and Brussels is that the

consultancy landscape is more fragmented. In Europe consultancies tend to be

generalists,while in Washington consultancies tend to be more specialist, both

by industry sector and tools deployed. In Europe consultancies may call

themselves lobbyists or public affairs or government relations consultants, but

whatever the name,they all do much the same thing.By contrast, in Washington

there are some clear delineations by technique.

So,for example,a public affairs consultancy will be one that has a strong reliance

on media relations. A government relations firm will tend to focus on long-term

political positioning. A lobbying company will traditionally be a firm of lawyers,

whose key skills are drafting legislation (for a legislature where any Senator or

Congressman can initiate legislation) and lobbying on Capitol Hill.


5


15/79

One striking feature of lobbying in the US is the effort put into seeking

favourable media coverage.Here the single most important target,since the nations

capital is pretty much a one-newspaper town,is the op-ed(opposite the editorialcomment) page of the Washington Post.With the single exception of the mid-

market newspaper, USA Today (and the weekly news magazines, Time and

Newsweek),no newspaper covers the country,though both theNew York Times

and theLos Angeles Times are influential in the two key states of New York and

California. Of the business press, the Wall Street Journal, with an American

circulation of 1,800,000,is the most important.Beyond those titles,the lobbyists

will target the home newspapers of every Senator and Congressman.

Lobbying in Britain and Brussels

The British lobbying industry and that of Brussels is a surprisingly recent

phenomenon,dating back,for the most part,not much more than a quarter of a

century.

Today there are over 50 lobbying consultancies in Westminster (of whom half,

including the largest, are grouped in the Association of Professional Political

Consultants (APPC)).The generally acknowledged pioneer in Westminster was

Commander Christopher Powell,whose consultancy flourished in the years afterthe Second World War.By most accounts he was a brilliant, if somewhat arrogant

man,whose knowledge of how Parliament works was unrivalled.However,it was

not until the 1970s and 1980s that lobbying consultancies grew to any size, with

Ian Greer later to be famous and GJW (founded in 1980 and now part of BSMG)

among the earliest.

In Brussels a handful of enterprising Britons started the first consultancies around

the same time.Today, it is said (but who could possibly have counted?),there are

10,000 lobbyists in Brussels from around the globe. In addition, it is far more

common today than even ten years ago to find major companies employing theirown in-house lobbyists or Directors of Public Affairs, as they are more likely to

be known.


6


16/79

The cash-for-questions affair

In Britain today many peoples perceptions of lobbying are based on what theyknow or think they know of the cash-for-questionsaffair.Whole books have been

written on the subject,though even now some of the facts are still in dispute.

The key points of the drama can be relatively briefly encapsulated.Ian Greer began

his career as a lobbyist in 1970,setting up his own consultancy,Ian Greer Associates

(IGA) in 1982.It became an extraordinary success, with an unrivalled client list

of blue chip companies,but the seeds of its destruction were planted just three

years after its foundation,when Ian Greer met the Egyptian-born owner of Harrods,

Mohamed Al Fayed.

Fayed was engaged in a bitter feud with Tiny Rowland,chief executive of Lonhro,

the man he had beaten in the takeover battle for Harrods.Ian Greer was enlisted

to help Fayed promote his side of the argument in the House of Commons and

in turn sought the support of a number of Conservative backbenchers,including

Tim Smith and Neil Hamilton.They agreed to help and Hamilton, in particular,

was soon tabling Parliamentary questions designed to discredit Rowland.Despite

that,events moved decisively against Fayed in April 1987,with the announcement

of a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) inquiry into his takeover of Harrods.

A month later a General Election was called and Ian Greer solicited money

(12,000) from Fayed,which he used to support the constituency campaigns of

26 Conservative MPs. Margaret Thatcher won the election and Fayed resumed his

Commons campaign,notably with the continuing support of Tim Smith and Neil

Hamilton.By 1988,Fayed says,he was handing over money in cash to Hamilton

(the cash-for-questions) and in September that year Hamilton and his wife,

Christine, stayed at Fayeds Ritz Hotel in Paris at Fayeds expense.By now Smith

was on a paid retainer from Fayed.

In 1989 the Lonhro-owned Observernewspaper published findings by the DTI

inquiry that Fayed had both dishonestly misrepresented his origins and wealth

and given evidence to the inquiry which he knew to be false.

A year later Ian Greer gave evidence to the Commons Select Committee on

MembersInterests,admitting that he had made commission payments to MPs in

return for business introductions. He spoke of three payments to the (now

deceased, former) Conservative MP, Michael Grylls.


7


17/79

In 1992 IGA celebrated its tenth anniversary with a party at the National Portrait

Gallery,attended by the then Prime Minister,John Major.Business was booming.

The Conservatives were re-elected in that years election and Neil Hamilton becameCorporate Affairs Minister at the DTI.Fayed wrote to him congratulating him on

his appointment,but,on the advice of his officials,Hamilton did not reply.Shortly

afterwards the Home Office rejected Fayeds application for British citizenship.

Fayed was furious,both about what he saw as his betrayal by Neil Hamilton and

by the Governments rejection of his application for British citizenship. He

approached the editor of the Guardian, Peter Preston, and so triggered the

Guardian investigation that culminated in the downfall of Tim Smith, Neil

Hamilton and Ian Greer.

In October 1994 the Guardian published its story,with the headlines Tory MPs

were paid to plant questions says Harrods chief and Mr Greer said to me you

need to rent an MP like you rent a London taxi.Tim Smith immediately resigned

as Minister for Northern Ireland,admitting that he had taken cash for questions

from Fayed. A day later the Guardian published a copy of Neil Hamiltons 3,600

bill for his stay at the Ritz.

Rejecting the Guardian allegations that he had obtained money from Fayed to

pay MPs to place Parliamentary questions, Ian Greer issued a writ.Within days

Hamilton had resigned from the Government and the Prime Minister had

announced the establishment of the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life.

It was another two years before the libel case was about to start in the courts,

but just days before that Ian Greer was told by his lawyers that the Guardian

had evidence of six payments by him to Michael Grylls, not the three he had

mentioned to a Commons committee in 1990.Though it was nothing to do with

the central allegation, the lawyers advice was that to be shown to have misled

the committee would be fatal in court.They advised him to drop the case and

he accepted their advice.

Released from the constraints of the case, the Guardian published furtherdamaging material. IGAs clients and staff deserted in droves. Just before the end

of 1996 the company went into voluntary liquidation.

To this day Neil Hamilton continues to assert his innocence and to dispute the

finding of then Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards,Sir Gordon Downey,

that there was compelling evidence that he had received cash payments from Fayed.

The cash-for-questionsaffair put a harsh spotlight on the nascent lobbying industry

in the UK and, in particular, on the issue of financial relationships between

consultancies and MPs.Ian Greer was an enterprising pioneer in the industry,who

made mistakes and paid a heavy price.


8


18/79

The Association of Professional Political Consultants

The affair forced the industry to confront issues that it had previously avoidedand to take action to safeguard its own future.The most visible effect was the

creation of a self-regulatory body, the Association of Professional Political

Consultants (APPC), in 1994 by five of the largest lobbying consultancies.The

Association,whose membership had grown by 2001 to 25 companies,has a code

of conduct, which bans any financial relationship with politicians; it also

publishes a twice-yearly register of consultancy clients.

The Drapergate affair

The Association faced its first real test in the summer of 1998,when the Observercarried out an investigative sting, with journalists posing as representatives of a

US energy company,seeking influence.It accused three consultancies (two of them

Association members) of unethical behaviour.This Drapergate affair was less

serious than cash-for-questions, in the sense that this time there were no

allegations of inappropriate financial links,but rather of inappropriate bragging

about the closeness of links with politicians and what could therefore be achieved.

Derek Draper,a former aide to Peter Mandelson,who had boasted that there were

only 17 people who counted in the Government and he had access to all of them,

immediately resigned from his position.The Prime Minister asked Sir Robin Butler,the Cabinet Secretary, to draw up rules for government dealings with lobbyists

and the Association met to decide what, if anything, to do about its member

consultancies. It was not an easy meeting and a wide variety of opinions were

expressed. In the end, however, the decision was to set up an inquiry to be

conducted by a former head of the Home Civil Service,Lord Armstrong of Ilminster,

and a leading barrister, Nicholas Purnell QC.

In their report to the Association two weekslater,the two said that:There is nothing

intrinsically improper about the role of political consultants.On the contrary,they

have a valuable role to perform in assisting their clients to make proposals andcases to the agencies of government in the most effective way.However,they added

that it was critically important that political consultants should conduct

themselves so as not to impair the integrity of their clients and the integrity of

government and those in government positions with whom they have dealings.

They therefore went on to make a number of recommendations, subsequently

endorsed by the APPC, all designed to create a culture of compliance with the

APPC rules within member consultancies.


9


19/79

Taken together,cash-for-questionsand Drapergatehad a profound effect on the

UK lobbying industry.Though most in the industry would certainly assert that

the alleged improper behaviour was untypical,the two crises forced the industryto acknowledge that it would have to behave with complete propriety and be

seen to do so,if it were to survive and prosper.Partly as a result,many would claim

that lobbying in the UK today has one of the best ethical track records of any in

the world.Indeed,the secret of success is in how to be both ethical and effective.

The next chapter considers what makes a good lobbyist.


10


20/792chapter

How to lobby

T H E R U L E S O F L O B B Y I N G


21/79

Chapter 2:

How to lobby

Some may feel that Chapter 1 was a chapter on how not to lobby and since this

is essentially a practical guide,this chapter is designed to redress the balance by

providing some basic advice on how to lobby well that is to say both ethically

and effectively.

The rules of lobbying

Lobbying is an art form, rather than a science,so there is inevitably an element

of judgement in what follows and,of course, the precise nature of activity will

vary,depending on the issue and the political forum where the lobbying is taking

place. Nevertheless, there are some simple rules that apply universally. So here

are some of them:

Research the facts

The best lobbying is always based on accurate, up-to-date information and on a

well-argued case,founded on credible evidence,and delivered to the right audiences

in the right tone of voice at the right time.The research needs to cover not only

the case to be made,but also the facts about the decision-makers and the influences

on them. To which politician or political institution should the grievance be

addressed? Who has the power to put things right? What consideration have they

given the issue to date? Try to anticipate the arguments that your opponents will

make and deal with them at the outset.Although impatient clients sometimes find

this information-gathering stage of the lobbying process frustrating, it is essential

to maximise the chances of success.

Agree on the objective

This may sound like a statement of the obvious,but it is a step surprisingly often

omitted,with inevitably bad results down the track.Effective lobbying depends

on the message being simple,consistent and realistic. So all the options need to

be considered right at the beginning of the process.Of course, tactics may have

to change in the light of events, but the strategy should be set at the outset. In

lobbying,as in other areas,unity is strength and opponents will be quick to seize

on its absence and seek to divide and rule.

C H A P T E R 2 : H O W T O L O B B Y

12


22/79

Put the case in writing

Although a lobbying campaign will almost always involve face-to-face meetings,

there is no chance of success unless politicians and officials can review the case

in writing. It needs to be expressed with clarity,avoiding jargon,and, in the case

of politicians, with brevity (ideally, not more than one side of A4). Officials, by

contrast,will need technical detail to help them to consider the exact nature of

possible solutions to a problem.Get one individual to write your submission (by

all means following a round table discussion); that maximises the chances of

achieving clarity.

Identify allies

Some campaigns may succeed through the sheer weight of the argument,but the

reality of life is that decision-makers will usually also weigh the balance of forces

aligned on different sides of an argument. So you are more likely to succeed if

you can work in partnership with others, who share similar goals. If you can

persuade an important think tank to advance your argument and to air it in the

media, you will have made a significant advance.

Adopt an appropriate tone of voice

This means avoiding the twin extremes of bullying and Uriah Heep-styledeference.Be respectful and courteous,but also straightforward and clear.You need

to remember that, while you have the right to make your case, politicians and

officials have a duty to decide in the public interest.Equally,they need to remember

that they are the servants of the public,not the masters,and that they have a duty

to consider carefully representations from those affected by their decisions.

Make your friends before you need them

It is human nature that we are more responsive to requests for help from people

that we already know and politicians and officials are only human.So try to getto know individuals whom you judge may be in crucial positions before they get

there. One of the most valuable functions that a consultancy can perform is to

advise you on just who these rising stars are.


13


23/79

Choose your moment

(There is a tide in the affairs of men,which,taken at the flood,leads on to fortune.)

Sometimes this is impossible because action is forced upon you by the politicians.

In most cases, however, the timing of your lobbying will, to some extent, be in

your hands.Again, it is a question of avoiding extremes. On the one hand, as a

general rule of thumb,the earlier that you seek to intervene in a process,the more

likely your efforts are to be crowned with success.On the other hand,politicians

are busy people with notoriously short attention spans (a week is a long time

in politics); they are unlikely to pay much attention unless the issue, or

something related to it, is on their current agenda. In any event, your lobbying

needs to be in time to influence events; there is no point in taking action when

the die is already cast.

Remember what motivates politicians

(Often) idealism,(usually) ambition to achieve Ministerial status and (invariably)

a desire to hold their seats.Remember too that lobbying is a deal, not,generally,

cash-for-questions,but information for access.The politician will normally agree

to meet because he anticipates that you will provide him with information that

will enable him to do his job better and perhaps to shine as a result.

Find a peg

On occasion your issue will be right at the top of the political agenda and you

will have no trouble commanding attention,but much more frequently you will

need to think carefully about how best to link your concerns with a political debate

that is already taking place.

Tell the truth

As Shakespeare put it inHamlet,This above all:to thine own self be true,And it

must follow,as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man.Whenthe outcome of a political decision is of crucial importance to you, it may be

tempting to bend the truth at the edges to avoid uncomfortable facts and to put

the best gloss on the weaker elements of your case. Dont. Dont because you

shouldnt and dont because,more often than not,your uncomfortable relationship

with the truth will be exposed and you will thereafter lose all credibility.


14


24/79

Ask for help

Another statement of the obvious,surprisingly often ignored.If a politician or an

official has agreed to meet you, it will be because they believe you have a case

to make.They will listen to your exposition of the facts,but,given the nature of

their jobs,their primary interest will be in what you would like them to do about

it. So dont be shy:tell them.

Listen carefully

You can tell a great deal about how your case is being received by the comments

that your interlocutors make and the questions that they ask.This will help you

to conclude where your points are hitting home and where your case is perceived

to be weak.

Watch carefully

Some politicians and officials are practised poker players and it is not easy to tell

from meeting them what they think. A larger number are routinely polite and

will express an interest in your case that will convey sympathy,but again conveys

nothing of their opinion.So watch their body language for clues.Surprisingly often,

you will find that a raised eyebrow or a tiny physical distancing from you betrays

what they really think.

Respond promptly to requests for more information

Naturally, you should try to anticipate exactly what the person you are meeting

will need to know,but,however efficient you are and however good your research,

there will frequently be times when you will be asked to forward further

particulars. Do so speedily and your reputation will be enhanced.Fail to do so

and you will certainly lose significant ground.

Be selective

You will need to identify those who have a reason to be interested in your case

and focus your efforts on them.This is much more likely to mean 50 individuals,

than 500.You need to identify the officials who have responsibility for your issue

and, in a Westminster context, you will focus on members of relevant Select

Committees,party committees and all-party groups.


15


25/79

But not too selective

A very common mistake is to assume that your problem can be solved by one

MP, one Government department, one political party, one part of the European

Commission,one committee of the European Parliament and so on.However,this

will very rarely be the case. Most issues are inter-departmental;most decisions

are collegiate and your lobbying needs to reflect this.Remember, in particular,

that the Treasury and Finance Ministries everywhere have an interest in most issues.

Be persistent

Politicians the world over will often tell supplicants that their case would best be

served by not rocking the boat, for example,because of the upcoming election;

there is always an election upcoming somewhere. Ignore them.They are trying

to arrange the world for their convenience,but you have a right to be heard.Equally,

you should not embark on a campaign that you dont intend to follow through to

the end.Once you have put an issue on to the agenda,officials will certainly follow

through and if you fail to do so as well, the results could be disastrous.

Civil servants rule, OK?

A sensitive area this,but never under-estimate the importance of officials,as opposed

to politicians.The most valuable education tool that I know is the television comedyseries,Yes Minister, with its basic theme that it is officials who really run the

country. Of course, determined politicians (a relatively small group) can change

the world,but on many issues where lobbying takes place, the real power rests

with officials.They draft the reports.They make the recommendations.They set

the agenda. Get them on your side and you will usually be home and dry.Fail to

convince them and you are very unlikely to succeed.

The devil is in the detail

Infrequently,you will be lobbying on a big picture point,where the decision willbe black or white,success or failure.Far more often,you will be looking at shades

of grey and then attention to detail will be vital. It may all turn on whether the

clause says andor or. So pay attention.

Be discreet in victory

The important thing is to win,not to be seen to have won.If the system takes what

you consider to be the right decision, let it take the credit. It is rarely possible,

anyway, to measure how much your efforts, as opposed to other factors,

contributed to success.


16


26/79

Consider a media strategy

Often,particularly where the lobbying is on an obscure point of detail vital to

you,but of no interest to Aunt Agatha nothing will be gained by seeking to expose

your case in the media.However, there will be occasions when this can be very

helpful.Here we come to a central theme of this Report.When and how should

you involve the media in a lobbying campaign? The next chapter considers the

case for and the case against talking to journalists.


17


27/793chapter

Involving the media the case for

and the case against

M E D I A E X P O S U R E

C I R C U M S T A N C E S T O C O N S I D E R B E F O R E

P R O M O T I N G M E D I A I N T E R E S T

C I R C U M S T A N C E S W H E R E Y O U W O U L D B E W E L L

A D V I S E D T O P R O M O T E M E D I A I N T E R E S T


28/79

Chapter 3:

Involving the media the case forand the case against

Media exposure

There used to be,perhaps still are in some quarters, two extreme points of view

on this issue.One held that lobbying was just public relations, with a particular

target audience,and so it was obvious that media relations would be at the centre

of what lobbyists did.The other was that lobbying was an elevated profession, far

removed from the gutter world of journalists, and that a lobbyist would no more

dream of seeking exposure for a clients case in the media than would a lawyer.

Today, I would argue, there is a broad consensus that the answer lies between

these two extremes and that it is a case of horses for courses, of making

judgements about when media exposure is likely to be helpful and when

unhelpful.

Few would dispute that in Britain politicians are acutely sensitive to how the media

report their activities.This can affect both policies and personalities.To give just

a couple of obvious examples: It is certainly the case that Tony Blairs pro-European

instincts have been tempered by concerns over the stance taken by the Euro-

sceptic media and in particular the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch and

Conrad Black.Equally,his Governments emphasis on crime is certainly influenced

by theDaily Mails agenda and that newspapers belief that it has an instinctive

appreciation of the worries of crucial swing voters in Middle England.

Similarly,at a time when the size of Labours majority in the House of Commonsmade effective opposition there almost impossible,many newspapers seemed to

take the view that it was part of their job to hold the Government to account.

At its most extreme this has certainly included creating an environment in which

Ministers have been forced to resign.This,of course, was a feature of the Major

years, but it has continued more recently, most notably with first the Guardian

and then the Observer twice forcing the resignation of Peter Mandelson from the

Cabinet.

C H A P T E R 3 : I N V O L V I N G T H E M E D I A T H E C A S E F O R A N D T H E C A S E A G A I N S T

19


29/79


30/79

Where you would be alerting well-organised opponents

It is important always to remember that you cannot control how the media will

report on the subject that interests you. Even if initial coverage is favourable, it

may be that the principal effect will be to alert those who take a different point

of view to the fact of your lobbying.They may then themselves both lobby directly

and seek media coverage for counter-arguments.

Where you would be alerting other stakeholders

Media coverage of your issue may stimulate the involvement of others with an

interest.They may not necessarily be hostile, but their lobbying will force the

decision-makers to reconsider the issues. At best this may lead to delay,but it could

result in the decision moving against you.

Where you would alienate key supporters

This can be in two different senses. Firstly, you may have key supporters in

government who,in their eyes,are taking risks to help your case;faced with media

exposure of the issue, they may become more cautious.Secondly, there can be

occasions on sensitive issues where you are able to secure discreet behind-the-

scenes third party support for your point of view, which can be very helpful.

Sometimes, such help may evaporate in the wake of media discussion, as lessempathetic elements among these supporters force their colleagues to abandon

their supportive stance.

Where you risk generating adverse editorial comment

Even if the factual reporting of your case is accurate, you may do more harm than

good if it is accompanied by comment pieces that cast doubt on the validity of

your case.Officials and politicians are sensitive to editorial comment and if you

are not confident that it will be favourable,it may make sense not to expose the

issue to the media in the first place.

Where you are ill-prepared to handle media inquiries

Journalists are inquisitive, curious people; that, after all, is their job. So it is very

unlikely that what you say will simply be reported verbatim and far more likely

that you will be on the receiving end of some probing questions that seek to

expose the weaknesses in your arguments. If you are not confident of handling

such questions, it might be better to avoid the media altogether.


21


31/79


32/79

Where you need to demonstrate that you are campaigning

It is both a strength and weakness of lobbying that it is generally conducted behind

closed doors.This invisibility can be a great disadvantage if supporters conclude

that nothing is being done.If,to secure their continuing support,you need to prove

that this is not the case, a media campaign can be an effective tool.

Where your lobbying appears to be getting nowhere

There can be any number of reasons for this.It may be simply that you have got

a lousy case that doesnt deserve to succeed.Or it may be that you are lobbying

the wrong targets in which case you need to broaden the net.But if neither of

these appear to apply then it is likely that you will have nothing to lose by seeking

to secure a fresh look at your arguments via a media campaign.

Where you have or can win considerable public support

There will be times when Governmental inertia can be disturbed with the help

of the media.The volume of media coverage and support for a campaign will often

affect what a government decides to do.Again,the fuel protests in 2000 provide

a vivid illustration; for as long as the tabloids supported the protesters, the

Government was under severe pressure; the moment media opinion began to

swing against the protesters,the pressure eased.

In the specific case of mergers and acquisitions

When billions of pounds are at stake and when the outcome may be decided either

by shareholders or by the competition authorities, financial public relations and

lobbying go hand-in-hand and it would be a foolish investment bank that failed

to recognise the importance of both.This will be considered in more detail in a

later chapter.

So,let us assume that,willingly or unwillingly,you have resolved to include a media

element in your lobbying campaign, how best should you set about that? There

are certainly some general lessons that apply and these are considered in a later

chapter. However, you also need to be aware of how the political and media

landscapes in a particular location will influence your approach.

The next chapter looks at Westminster,Whitehall and the national UK media,while

subsequent chapters examine Scotland,Wales,Northern Ireland and Brussels.


23


33/794chapter

Whitehall and Westminster

T H E S E N I O R C I V I L S E R V I C E

T H E P O W E R O F T H E P R I M E M I N I S T E R A N D C A B I N E T M I N I S T E R S

W H E R E D O E S P O W E R L I E W I T H I N T H E E X E C U T I V E ?

P A R L I A M E N T

T H E I N I T I A T I O N A N D F O R M U L A T I O N O F P U B L I C P O L I C Y I N B R I T A I N


34/79

Chapter 4:

Whitehall and Westminster

How you lobby and how you may campaign in the media will depend crucially

on who has the power to help or to hinder your case.

So the theme of this chapter is where power lies in Whitehall and Westminster.

Obviously,this will vary from issue to issue and also over time,but there are some

general observations that can usefully be made.

There are any number of admirable,if lengthy,academic texts on this subject.Whatthis chapter seeks to focus on are those aspects of the unwritten British

constitution that are most likely to be of interest to the lobbyist.

The senior civil service

Perhaps the single most important is that, as Philip Norton, professor of

government at the University of Hull,has put it:the senior civil service remains

at the heart of British government.Hence the unusual order of the chapter title,designed to focus attention on this particular point.

For the lobbyist,it is these people some 3,000 of them out of a total of around

500,000 who often hold the key to the resolution of a problem, for it is they

who both provide Ministers with advice on policy and then supervise its

implementation.Because the media focus is on politicians and because officials

shun the limelight, it is all too easy to underestimate the importance of senior

officials but the lobbyist does so at his peril.

Of course on the really big issues of the day it will generally be the Prime Minister

or the Chancellor of the Exchequer whose views are decisive, but the greatmajority of day-to-day issues with which lobbyists are generally concerned are

not like that.Political support may be vital,but if officials are not persuaded that

a particular approach is practical, affordable and in their departments interests,

it is unlikely to be adopted.

Some of those who need to lobby mistakenly assume that because officials are

generally discreet, they are unapproachable. It isnt so. The overwhelming

majority of senior officials take the view that it is part of their job to listen to those

who may be affected by government action.They have no duty to agree,but they

do generally feel a duty to consult.

C H A P T E R 4 : W H I T E H A L L A N D W E S T M I N S T E R

25


35/79


36/79


37/79

Where does power lie within the executive?

The question of where,within the executive,power lies defies easy generalisation.To my mind one of the most persuasive attempts has been Nortons.He argues

(with a few caveats) that:High policy (such as economic policy) is usually made

at the level of prime minister and cabinet;medium-level policy (a new initiative

on transport safety or school examinations, for example) at the ministerial level

within departments; and low-level,or day-to-day incremental, policy at the civil

service level, often in consultation with those representatives of outside groups

who,together,form policy communities.This last category probably accounts for

the bulk of public policy or,perhaps more accurately, policy adjustments.

Norton argues that this increasing involvement of outside groups, sometimesassisted by professional lobbyists,is leading,to some degree,to a dispersal of power.

He says that:By Capitol Hill standards,the development of lobbying is an extremely

modest one,but it is growing and likely to continue to do so.It offers the prospect

of a more,rather than a less,pluralistic system of policy making.

Parliament

So much for the executive.What of Parliament, often thought to be the focus oflobbying? Again,Norton gets it right in my view,when he says that:Lobbying of

MPs is an admission that attempts to influence ministers and their officials have

failed. It is often an unprofitable exercise: Failure to influence ministers will

frequently be replicated in a house dominated by those same ministers.

Of course we can find exceptions to this argument.Two of the most well-known

would be the defeat of the Shops Bill and the thwarting of Government plans for

Post Office privatisation.In the first case,a coalition of outside interests persuaded

72 Conservative MPs to vote with Labour to defeat the Bill. In the second,as we

noted earlier, the threat of 15 Conservative MPs to rebel (at a time when theGovernment had only a small Commons majority) was enough to persuade the

Government to think again.

But these are rare exceptions to the rule that Parliament will rarely be decisive,

though it certainly has influence on the executive, where the decision-making

power generally lies.It is because of this influence, increasingly exercised through

Select Committees or party committees, rather than on the floor of the House

of Commons,that lobbyists pay attention to it.In some ways Parliament thus plays

a similar role to that of the media: both have considerable influence on

government and both are worth paying attention to for that reason.


28


38/79

In the overwhelming majority of cases a government with an overall majority in

the Commons will succeed in imposing its will through party discipline.So the

Commons will only generally be important as a place to change things when thegovernment of the day lacks such a majority. However, it retains an importance

as a forum for debate,where issues can be raised and drawn to the attention of

government.

Select Committees

Particularly important in this respect are the departmental Select Committees

established in 1979.They have,to a modest degree,developed a reputation for both

innovative thinking and a preference for proceeding by consensus.Their inquiries

are based on the taking of written and oral evidence from Ministers and outside

interests. For the lobbyist therefore they can represent both an opportunity and

a threat.Certainly any witness called to give evidence would do well to prepare

in much the same way as he would for an interview with a sceptical journalist.

The House of Lords

The House of Lords has been and remains a curious place,but not without interest

for the lobbyist. Originally dominated by hereditary peers, who owed their

membership of it to the accident of birth, since 1999 it has been dominated by

appointed life peers,though 92 hereditary peers have retained their membership

(out of a current total of just over 700). Although it has less power than the

Commons, it is also a chamber where party discipline is weaker and where the

life experience of many (predominantly middle-aged or elderly) members can lead

to debates which are more informed and less dogmatic than is usual in the

Commons. So if your objective is to influence the detail of a bill, where the

Government is either hostile or uninterested, it may be a more fruitful forum than

the Commons.

By the time a piece of legislation reaches the House of Lords,the process of public

policy formation and development is well on the road to completion.Yet it is, of

course,a truism of good lobbying that the ideal point to seek to intervene in this

process is not at the end, but at the beginning. So it may be useful to conclude

this chapter with a brief consideration of how public policy is initiated and

formulated in Britain.


29


39/79

The initiation and formulation of public policy in Britain

It has to be said that there is little academic consensus on this subject and thatthere is a gulf between much of the theory and what appears to be the reality. In

addition,the reality seems to change considerably from government to government.

The senior civil service

One area where there is little agreement is the role of the senior civil service.

Some,usually committed party politicians,argue with passion that the civil service

has never had an original idea in its life.Others respond that this shows how clever

the mandarins are and that it is rather the case that they have simply been careful

never to leave their fingerprints my own instincts incline to this latter view.Wherethere is agreement is that the closer that you get to policy detail, the more

important Whitehall becomes.

International experience

As the world becomes a smaller place,abroad is often the source of new policy

ideas and initiatives.Labour and Conservatives alike frequently turn to the United

States for fresh ideas.Less frequently,they and others look to the old Commonwealth

or to other countries in the European Union Australia,New Zealand,Sweden and

the Netherlands are particular favourites.

Political parties

Political parties would have you believe that they are the main source of ideas:

they think up the ideas,they are adopted as party policy,they feature in the election

manifesto and after polling day they are implemented.This has the attraction of

simplicity, but can,at best,be only part of the truth.

Think tanksTake privatisation,for example.It hardly figured in the Conservative party manifesto

of 1979 or in public debate.The civil service was initially extremely sceptical.

Rather the driving force was a combination of a vigorous think tank the Adam

Smith Institute and the enthusiasm of a determined Prime Minister,Mrs Thatcher,

and (at the time) key Ministerial lieutenants,notably Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey

Howe.The results were dramatic:by the end of the 1980s they had sold into private

hands 40% of what had been publicly owned a decade earlier.Think tanks remain

a good place to launch a new idea, though their influence waxes and wanes. In

2001 the Institute for Public Policy Research would reasonably claim to be the

most influential, though others (Demos and the Social Market Foundation, for


30


40/79

example) certainly compete for attention.Ask where think tanks themselves get

their best ideas from and often the answer is from abroad,which usually means

the United States.

Interest and pressure groups

Much public policy starts life as the brainchild of an interest group or pressure

group.Some of these groups (the campaign for lead-free petrol,for example) are

successful single issue groups;others (for example,Keep Sunday Special and the

Countryside Alliance) are more responses to unwelcome Government initiatives.

Many interest groups have a quasi-institutionalised consultative role vis a vis

particular Government departments.

The centre of Government

More than was the case in the past,policy is being initiated and developed at the

centre in the No 10 policy unit, but also in the Cabinet Office: notably in the

performance and innovation unit,headed in 2001 by Geoff Mulgan (formerly at

Demos) and in divisions like the social exclusion unit and the office of the e-envoy.

The pressure from No 10 and 70 Whitehall for policy innovation may be relentless,

but turning big ideas into concrete policy normally requires input from Ministers,

special advisers and senior officials in the key departments:the Treasury,of course,but also the Department for Education and Employment,the Department of Health,

the Department for the Environment,Transport and the Regions and the Home

Office.

The only safe advice for the lobbyist about policy formation and development is

to treat each case as different and to research the corridors of power carefully

before deciding where to focus the lobbying effort.


31


41/795chapter

The Downing Street Press Office, the lobby

and the national media

T H E D O W N I N G S T R E E T P R E S S O F F I C E

T H E L O B B Y

T H E N A T I O N A L M E D I A


42/79

Chapter 5:

The Downing Street Press Office, the lobbyand the national media

At the heart of British media coverage of politics is the lobby and their principal

source of information,the press office at 10 Downing Street.So it is worth looking

at these two institutions,before considering which of the national media are of

particular importance to the lobbyist.

That requires a declaration of interest.For while I am now a lobbyist,I was a lobbycorrespondent. Hopefully that means that I know what I am talking about, but

it almost certainly also means that my perceptions are influenced by my own

experiences.You have been warned.

The Downing Street Press Office

If we start by considering the press operation at Downing Street, it is a truism

that most occupants of 10 Downing Street have been fascinated by/obsessed withmedia coverage.Ramsay MacDonald created the job of Press Secretary to the Prime

Minister in 1931.

Over the years the quality of Downing Street press spokesman has varied greatly.

One of the most well-known, because so close to his Prime Minister, Margaret

Thatcher, was Bernard Ingham, who, like his boss, on occasion treated Cabinet

Ministers as if they were enemies, rather than allies.Bernard was famously well-

liked by the lobby, in spite of his fierce temper,because he could be relied on to

know what the Prime Minister was thinking,even when he hadnt spoken to her.

He also used the weekly meeting of information officers to control and co-ordinateall the news flowing from the government to the media.

Equally short-tempered and close to the Prime Minister is Tony Blairs official

spokesman,formerDaily Mirrorjournalist,Alastair Campbell,a brilliant tabloid

phrase-maker who, on the night of Princess Dianas death, supplied his master

with the memorable words,the Peoples Princess. His office is the setting for

the daily 9am news planning meeting,which endeavours to set the political news

agenda for the day and,in particular,decides on lines to be taken at the daily lobby

briefing, two hours later.

C H A P T E R 5 : T H E D O W N I N G S T R E E T P R E S S O F F I C E , T H E L O B B Y A N D T H E N A T I O N A L M E D I A

33


43/79

While Tony Blair himself claims to spend little time reading newspapers (he once

told an interviewer:I cant think I spend more than five minutes a day reading

it I read theFinancial Times and I flick through the rest),Campbells mediamonitoring operation is impressively thorough and encompasses columnists,as

well as lobby correspondents.A leaked autumn 2000 document from the media

monitoring unit provided the Government with a journalist-by-journalist rundown

some examples were: Andrew Grice (Independent) One of Westminsters most

influential political reporters,Peter Riddell (Times) Is widely read in Whitehall,

Hugo Young (Guardian) Considered very influential among Labour-voting

chattering classesand Polly Toynbee (Guardian) Very well respected writer on

the centre left.

Alastair Campbells media operation builds on Labours media relations machine,developed in opposition when Peter Mandelson was director of communications

(1985-1990) and, in my judgement, shares that machines strengths and

weaknesses.

On the plus side,where Labours media operation had been famously shambolic,

the new approach was based on the virtues of a proactive,structured approach

to delivering the partys key messages.This was visibly successful in the 1997

General Election when, for the first time ever, a majority of the national dailies

supported Labour,with only theDaily Telegraph,theDaily Mailand theExpress

unequivocal in their support for the Conservatives.

On the negative side,Labour has often found it hard to disguise its contempt for

journalists a serious mistake,since the most effective media relations are built

on a foundation of mutual trust and respect.Those providing stories and those

writing them know that their jobs are different, but that each has much to gain

from the professionalism of the other.

Ian Hargreaves, Financial Times columnist and director of the Centre for

Journalism Studies at Cardiff University, has been assiduous in collecting the

quotations that display that contempt.Labour pollster,Philip Gould,for example,

has talked about:Taking power away from the media and grabbing back control

of the agenda it is basically about outwitting them and setting out our stall on

our terms. As Hargreaves has put it,Journalists are viewed as an enemy force

standing between New Labour and the electorate.He quotes an associate of Philip

Gould explaining the essence of running a government media relations operation

as forcing journalists to eat their greens.As Hargreaves concludes,If you think

journalists are fools and treat them that way, it will not be easy to build trust.

Campbell and the lobby have a love-hate relationship.There is certainly an element

of mutual mistrust and contempt but,at bottom,each knows that they could not

do their job without the other.


34


44/79

The lobby

The lobby is the collective name for journalists based at the Palace of Westminster,whose day-to-day job is to report the ebb and f low of British politics. Founded

in 1884,when a single gentlemanof the press was given official permission to

stand in the MPslobby of the House of Commons,there are today some 250 lobby

correspondents.They include 90 working for television and radio,36 (so more

than one in ten of the lobby) working for the BBC alone. On the print side, the

most well resourced are the Press Association (20), most of whom are gallery

reporters,theDaily Telegraph and the Times (eight each) and the Guardian and

theIndependent(six each).

The lobby is a comfortable, if competitive, club and many of its members havespent most of their working life there.Most of them share certain characteristics:

an abiding interest in politics, a competitive desire to come up with exclusive

stories,a certain cynicism about the motives of politicians,a preference for stories

that feature conflict, a relative lack of interest in or understanding of the civil

service,a focus that is more often on 10 Downing Street than other Government

departments and more on personalities than on issues and a short attention span.

The central event of the day for the lobby is the 11am briefing by the Prime

Ministers official spokesman,normally held in the basement of 10 Downing Street.

This time-honoured ritual begins with the spokesman reading out a list of the PrimeMinisters engagements for the day, but at its heart is the exchange of questions

and answers sometimes good-humoured,sometimes acerbic that follows.On

Fridays,there will generally also be a separate briefing for the Sunday newspapers.

Most lobby correspondents love their job and are very good at it.They are at the

heart of the British political machine and have privileged access to it,both in terms

of Downing Street and other briefings and their right to loiter with MPs in the

members lobby, immediately outside the chamber of the House of Commons.

They will often be the first to know of a shift in Government policy and they will

certainly have usually well-informed views on which politicians stock is risingand which is falling. Hence they are a good source of information for lobbyists

and, after all, information is the basis of all good lobbying.

But there is a world of difference between monitoring carefully what the lobby

is writing,which is essential,and seeking to interest them in a clients case,which

is a high-risk strategy that may,on occasion,be either sensible or unavoidable.If

you find yourself seeking to make a case to members of the lobby then you need

to bear a number of caveats in mind, most of them relating to the characteristics

of the lobby outlined above.


35


45/79

Firstly, it may be difficult to secure their attention at all,since their job is to focus

on the hot issues of the day.Then you need to recall that it will be second nature

to most lobby correspondents to express the story in terms of conflict,so it willbe their natural instinct to balance your comments with an alternative viewpoint.

Thirdly, if your story has economic or financial implications, these are unlikely

to be given as much prominence as the political implications.Finally,even if you

secure one-off interest, this is quite unlikely to be sustained, since the

correspondents have a natural desire to move quickly on to the next story.

The national media

For all of these reasons,it may make more sense to pitch your story to the army

of specialist correspondents that newspapers and broadcast media employ:

journalists whose remit is to cover business,health,education, the environment,

transport and so on.They are more likely to have an in-depth understanding of

your issue and more likely to have a continuing interest.

As your objective is to influence Government,you need to bear in mind that some

journalists are more important than others and,since resources are always limited,

it makes sense to focus on your effort on those media most likely to have the

greatest impact.

Early in the day, the two to remember are the Today programme on BBC Radio 4

and Londons evening newspaper,theEvening Standard(easily Britains top-selling

evening newspaper, with a circulation of well over 400,000). The Today

programme, in particular sets the political agenda for the day and if you have the

opportunity to make your case on it, you will be heard by many of the opinion

formers and decision makers that you will want to reach.Similarly,most journalists

working for the broadcast media or national morning newspapers will generally

at least glance at theEvening Standardbefore filing their stories.

The main evening television news bulletins have very large audiences and are

important in that sense, but because of the peculiar hours of the House of

Commons are actually not much watched by politicians.In the late evening BBC

2sNewsnight has more of a political audience and the time to examine issues

in more depth than many other television programmes.Remember,however,that

the interviewing style,as with the Today programme,will tend to the assertively

sceptical. Famously, politicians tend to think of television and radio more as

something that they appear on than as something that they watch or listen to.

Apart from the Today programme andNewsnight, their favourite programmes

on which to appear are Breakfast with Frost(Sunday, BBC1), theJonathanDimbleby Programme (Sunday,London Weekend Television) and Question Time

(Thursday, BBC1).


36


46/79

In terms of national newspapers,Britain has a remarkably wide variety,including

ten national dailies, of which five are quality broadsheets, all of which can be

important means of exposing decision-makers to your point of view.Of the five,arguably the two most important are theFinancial Times and the Guardian,for

different reasons.

The Financial Times (circulation 450,000) has an enviable reputation for

reporting the facts straight and for appreciating the economic context within which

politicians operate. It reaches a wide and relevant international audience,

particularly in Brussels, as well as being required reading in the Treasury.Of the

FTs total circulation, substantially less than half is in the UK, with Continental

Europe and the United States accounting for most of the remaining readers.

The Guardian (circulation 400,000) is the newspaper most widely read by Labour

politicians and is, in that sense,the perfect means of reaching a large number of

them,with theDaily Telegraph (circulation over a million) performing the same

function for Conservative MPs.

If we include weekly and specialist magazines, the list is almost endless. In a few

cases it may be that the New Statesman could be important because of its

significant, if small, left-of-centre readership.There is also theEconomist, which

approaches issues from a liberal free market perspective and has a significant

readership in the United States.

Although their coverage will be less detailed, the tabloid newspapers are also

important,not least because of the importance attached to them by 10 Downing

Street (to quote Alastair Campbell:The papers that really matter are the tabloids.

I think one of the reasons Tony wanted me to work for him, and why I wanted

to work for Tony,was that we both acknowledge the significance to the political

debate of the tabloids).The Downing Street press office keeps a close watch on

theDaily Mail(circulation 2.3 million), in particular.Then there are the Sunday

newspapers,which have the time and resources to conduct major investigations

and which can,as a result, have a significant impact on the Westminster agenda.


37


47/796chapter

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

S C O T L A N D

W A L E S

N O R T H E R N I R E L A N D


48/79


49/79

Before the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish executive were established, the

Scottish media were prominent in the campaign for devolution.Since their creation

they have been equally prominent in their criticisms.The important point to note,however, is that they have not ignored the new institutions.It follows that they

can be an important way of reaching the 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament

(MSPs),Ministers in the Scottish executive and Scottish civil servants.

In the broadcast media,Good Morning Scotland,BBC Radio Scotlands equivalent

of the Today programme, has a substantial audience among the political classes

and therefore plays a similar agenda-setting role.Many in Scotland had hoped that

Scottish television might play a similarly influential role, through a Scotland-based

early evening television news programme in place of the BBCs Six oClock News.

That battle was lost,however,and the Scots had to make to do with the concessionof a 20-minute Scottish opt-out from BBC 2sNewsnight at 11pm.There are also,

of course,as elsewhere in the UK,early evening national/regional news bulletins:

Reporting Scotlandon BBC television and Scotland Today, its more down-market

equivalent on ITV.

If London is unusual in the world in having so many newspapers,the same is true

in Scotland.For a small country,with a population of just five million,the breadth

of choice is striking.

Still the most important, in spite of a somewhat turbulent recent history, is the

Scotsman.With a circulation hovering around 100,000,it outsells all the London

broadsheets combined north of the border. Traditionally the left-of-centre

newspaper for the Edinburgh chattering classes, it has moved to the right under

the ownership of the Barclay brothers and has also attempted to reposition itself

as a national (i.e. Scottish as opposed to east coast) newspaper.

A similar repositioning exercise has been undertaken by its long-time rival, the

Glasgow-basedHerald(also with a circulation close to 100,000), formerly the

Glasgow Herald,which has sought to reach out beyond its traditional west coast

readership.

The most intriguing new entrant is the Swedish-owned,Business AM, the first

daily newspaper to launch in Scotland for a century,which calls itself Scotlands

business, financial and political daily; its readership is small,but influential and

many Scottish-based lobbyists cite it as an important target for their messages.

Of the tabloid press in Scotland, easily the most important is theDaily Record

(circulation over 600,000),the Scottish equivalent of theDaily Mirror,left-of-centre

on economic issues,but socially conservative. It played an important role in the

hard-fought Scottish campaign against the repeal of Section 28;a campaign that

certainly forced the Scottish executive to reflect, but that was ultimatelyunsuccessful in achieving its objective.

C H A P T E R 6 : S C O T L A N D , W A L E S A N D N O R T H E R N I R E L A N D

40


50/79

Other Scottish newspapers worth a mention are the two principal evening

newspapers, the Edinburgh-based Evening News (circulation 75,000) and

GlasgowsEvening Times (circulation over 100,000);both are well-read by MSPs,with the former in particular beginning to play a role analogous to Londons evening

newspaper.Then there is the most significant regional newspaper with a 100,000

circulation in the north east of Scotland, the Aberdeen-basedPress and Journal.

Most,though not quite all,of the UKs national newspapers have Scottish editions,

though in some cases this amounts to not a great deal more than a reshuffling

of the football match reporting.Still, their Scottish correspondents are generally

on the look out for Scottish case studies and comments from Scottish interest

groups,so they may on occasion be useful for Scottish lobbyists.

Finally worth a mention isHolyroodmagazine,the Scottish Parliaments in-house

journal, its fortnightly equivalent of WestminstersHouse magazine. It carries a

wide variety of features on Scottish political issues,providing outside groups with

opportunities for both editorial coverage and advertising.

Wales

The National Assembly for Wales, with 60 members, has fewer powers than the

Scottish Parliament;Wales is a smaller country (with a population of just under

three million) and the print media is correspondingly less diverse.As in Scotland,

the Cabinet is a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition,with Plaid Cymru the principal

opposition.There are nine Ministers and five deputy Ministers, together with 12

subject and standing committees.

Partly because most Welsh people read London newspapers, the perception of

Welsh-based lobbyists is that it is the broadcast media that perhaps play the key

role in Welsh politics.

Certainly Good Morning Wales, the BBC Radio Wales equivalent of the Todayprogramme,plays the familiar agenda-setting role and is widely listened to by many

of the 60 Assembly members (AMs).Equally, where the objective is to reach the

widest possible audience,the key programme is the early evening BBC television

news programme,Wales Today,which has up to 400,000 viewers.HTV Wales,the

most watched channel in Wales, has a similar early evening news programme,

though many Welsh television viewers in mid-Wales and the north have their sets

tuned to Central and Granada. BBC television also has a weekly Welsh political

programme, currentlyDragons Eye, transmitted on BBC2 Wales on Thursday

evenings.


41


51/79

The unique features of Welsh broadcasting are the Welsh language channels,BBC

Radio Cymru and Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C)/Channel 4 Wales.One in five of the

Welsh population,principally in the north and west, speak Welsh and the newson S4C (Newyddion) is the main way of reaching them.

Of the Welsh print media, the most important is the Western Mail,with a circulation

close to 60,000 across south and west Wales. Its north Wales counterpart, is the

Daily Post, with a circulation of 70,000.

Some of the national newspapers have Welsh editions, for example the Welsh

Mirror,but these primarily relate to sport coverage and are relatively unimportant

in political terms.

Northern Ireland

Of all the new devolved institutions it is the Northern Ireland Assembly,created

in April 1998 as part of the Good Friday peace agreement,which is both the most

fragile and in which the greatest hopes reside.

The Assembly and Executive have full legislative and executive authority over most

domestic issues.The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, however, retains

responsibility for security, policing and judicial matters,as well as internationalrelations, taxation, national insurance and the regulation of broadcasting,

telecommunications and financial services. Each of the principal parties

represented in the 108-member Assembly shares executive responsibility across

ten departments.A North-South Ministerial Council,including representatives of

the Irish Government,seeks to develop and co-ordinate policies in areas of mutual

interest, including food safety, waterways, trade and business development and

the European Union.

For 30 years the bomb and the bullet were the most common form of lobbying

in Northern Ireland.The attempt to switch to a more normal way of conductingpolitics is recent and still distrusted by substantial sections of the community.

Political lobbying is in its infancy in Belfast,but if the peace process can be made

to stick,could have a bright future,since, with the exception of criminal justice,

almost all day-to-day domestic issues are the responsibility of Stormont and the

ten Government departments in Northern Ireland.


42


52/79

In addition most of the 108 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs),whatever

their party affiliation, relish the new opportunity to try to look after their

constituents and accept the contribution that lobbyists can make.Away from thebig issues surrounding the peace process politics is surprisingly non-adversarial.

Real efforts are being made to develop an all-party consensus in the 16 committees

of the Assembly that play a key role in monitoring the activities of the executive.

There may be more journalists per square mile in Northern Ireland (population

1.7 million) than in any other part of the United Kingdom.Certainly,locally-based

lobbyists say that the media can play an important role in lobbying campaigns,

particularly by helping to give the politicians a sense of public and interest group

opinion on issues.

In terms of the broadcast media,BBC Northern Ireland coverage of local politics

is thorough.Both the BBC and UTV (Ulster Television) compete in the border areas

with RTE (the Irish national broadcasting organisation,Radio Telefis Eireann) and

there are also five lively local radio stations.

On the print media side, the most important newspaper is the cross-community

evening newspaper,theBelfast Telegraph,which has a circulation close to 120,000.

The daily press is spli

lobbying ang media, work with politicians and journalist

Documents