06.12.11 PR and Spin Lobbying’s Hidden Influence

Press coverage of the Bureau’s Bell Pottinger investigation

Published December 6 2011

The Bureau’s investigation into lobbying firm Bell Pottinger has received global coverage.

An undercover investigation by the Bureau, published in the Independent, revealed how PR firm Bell Pottinger claimed to have access to the heart of Government.

Following the report, which reveals how the firm uses ‘all sorts of dark arts’ to influence public opinion, the Labour party has called for lobbying reform.

A spokesman for Labour leader Ed Miliband tweeted: ‘Ministers must make Commons statement on serious lobbying allegations. Powerful should not be able to buy influence with PM.’

This afternoon, MPs in the Commons passed a Ten Minute Rule Bill demanding a statutory register of lobbyists, introduced by Labour MP John Cryer.

And Jon Trickett MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, has today written to Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell, asking him to initiate an investigation into lobbyist links with government.

However, a Downing Street spokesman has insisted that neither Prime Minister David Cameron nor the Coalition government have been influenced by PR firms: ‘It simply isn’t true to say that Bell Pottinger or any other lobbying company has influenced Government policy,’ he said.

But coverage of the investigation has spread around the globe, with the story trending on social media site Twitter, and appearing as the Top Story on Google News UK. For links to coverage, see the list below.

Further revelations on lobbying’s hidden influence will be published in the Independent all this week, and online at www.thebureauinvestigates.com.

Newspapers
Evening Standard
The Telegraph and blog
The Guardian
The Mirror
The Daily Mail
Financial Times blog
The Times
The Spectator
The Express
Belfast Telegraph
The Metro