Page 171 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

her personally. John Biffen, Leon Brittan, and Nigel Lawson were
among those ministers who in the 1980s found their credibility and
positions threatened in this way. Nigel Lawson, indeed, went so far
as to accuse Number 10 and Ingham of ‘black propaganda’ in their
dealings with him (Harris, 1991, p.176).
In his memoirs and elsewhere, Ingham denies that he ever used
the Lobby system, or any of the communication channels available
to him, in an improper way. There can be no doubt, however, that
the Thatcher-Ingham era was accompanied by an unprecedented
centralisation and politicisation of the governmental communication
apparatus, the potential for abuse of which was of concern to many,
right and left on the political spectrum, not least, as the previous
section suggested, because the even more centralised, even more
ruthlessly politicised governmental information system of the Blair
government could, and does claim a precedent for its approach in
the Thatcher years.
As for the development of prime ministerial public relations under
the Blair-Campbell regime, there have been some important positive
changes in the direction of openness. Since November 1997 Lobby
briefings have no longer been entirely anonymous, but can now be
attributed to Campbell, as Blair’s official spokesman. Lobby
journalists and political commentators have generally welcomed these
changes.
More worryingly, for some, Campbell brought his aggressive style
of news management from opposition—where it was used to great
effect to woo the hitherto Tory press (see Chapter 4)—into
government where, as in the Thatcher-Ingham years, it is as likely to
be used against Labour ministers as opposition politicians or the
BBC. Regarding his regular spats with the latter organisation,
Campbell wrote in a 1997 article that ‘the media is aggressive and it
often requires aggressive argument in return’. In this respect he was,
8
as this edition went to press, proving a more than worthy successor
to Sir Bernard in his rough handling of the journalists.

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