A Sharp Pivot To The Left For The PR Game

It seems clear the nation is ready for a change of government.

Is the PR trade?

The FT reports that lobby groups are paying a “premium for PR talent with Labour access”.

The PR trade is – don’t write in – by nature a right-wing operation, occupied by right wing folk who think the future lies in business, not in government.

They want “freedom” – whatever that means – rather than regulation. (Sometimes they are right, sometimes they aren’t.)

And there’s a reason the stereotypical PR went to public school and is called either Rupert or Jemima.

Honestly, some of my best friends…

Now, the next Labour government is plainly going to be business-friendly, so the lobbyists don’t need a completely different sort of person – they just need some who are a bit more nimble and have a different contacts book.

The situation sort of reminds me of what happened to political correspondents when Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party.

None of the regular political hacks had any connection with the Corbyn crowd whatsoever, since he was seen as such an unlikely leader of the party, never mind Prime Minister. (Also, he hated journalists. Which always made me like him.)

The hacks began looking at the lefties in the office, wondering if any of us knew, like, someone on Islington Council.

For the flaks without any Labour connections, these might be tough times.

(It is worth noting that this piece on the PR industry took up most of page three of the FT. As we’ve said here before, PR now gets reported on as if it were its own, mature industry like never before.)

I’m genuinely sorry for the flaks who suddenly find their market value plummeting, but since that has been happening to hacks for years, forgive me this: in your face.

One consultant said: “The most insane demands are coming from some of the outgoing Conservative special advisers….a lot of them expect more” than the PM’s £167,000 salary.

So, there’s a crowd of soon-to-be out of work flaks who have yet to realise they are about to be less valuable.

Good PR people are worth more than Rishi Sunak, or Keir Starmer. PMs are under paid.

But in politics, there’s a radical shift ongoing about what qualifies as good.