British govt to announce overhaul of media machine to shed image of spin

international | anti-war / imperialism | press release

Sunday September 07, 2003 21:57

by f

Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government has been renowned and reviled for its concentration on its image, planned to announce an overhaul of media operations on Wednesday, government officials said.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government has been renowned and reviled for its concentration on its image, planned to announce an overhaul of media operations on Wednesday, government officials said.

The announcement comes less than a week after Alastair Campbell, who has directed Blair’s information operation since the government took office in1997 , announced that he was resigning.

Structural changes to the communications unit he headed are viewed as an effort to repair relations with the British media and bolster public confidence in the government.

Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the government’s plans would be released by the Cabinet Office, and that Blair did not plan an immediate statement.

Campbell will be succeeded by the Labor Party’s press chief, David Hill, who reportedly will not inherit Campbell’s powers to give orders to civil servants.

Blair has frequently faced accusations that his Labor Party government is more concerned with presentation of policies than with substance.

“I think the government absolutely knows that it has to kill off the curse of spin once and for all and it is determined to do it and will set in place structures that are designed to achieve that end,” said Labor lawmaker Tony Wright, chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee which earlier this year called for a radical review of government communications.

Blair’s government has been under pressure for months because coalition forces in Iraq have found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction _ the core of Blair’s case for military intervention.

The government’s claims in an intelligence dossier published in September have been under particular scrutiny at a judicial inquiry into the death of weapons inspector David Kelly.

Kelly had been named as the possible source of a British Broadcasting Corp. report which quoted an unidentified official as saying Blair’s office overruled experts in claiming that Iraq was poised to deploy some chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes.

Campbell was at the heart of that controversy. The BBC said its source held Campbell responsible for including the disputed claim; Campbell and other government officials have disputed that. Kelly had denied accusing Campbell.

Two years ago, the government was embarrassed the disclosure that one press officer had suggested that the terrorist attacks in the United States made Sept. 11 a “good day” to bury bad news.

Government press offices are traditionally staffed by civil servants who are expected to communicate government policy in a politically neutral manner.

Blair’s government increased the number of politically appointed special advisers who are also able to brief on partisan lines.

Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith accused the government of emasculating the civil service and said its “culture of spin and deceit” would only end if Blair resigned.

“Forgive me for being suspicious, but we’ve seen it all before,” Duncan Smith wrote in the Independent on Sunday newspaper.

The overhaul of Blair’s media machine is believed to draw heavily on an independent review of government communications, carried out by senior journalists, media specialists and government advisers, and chaired by Bob Phillis, chief executive of the Guardian Media Group.

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