Portland Communications

Last updated

Portland Communications
Industry Communications
Founded2001 (2001)
Founder Tim Allan
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Key people
Victoria Dean
ServicesCommunications
Number of employees
490 (2022)
Website portland-communications.com

Portland Communications is a political consultancy and public relations agency set up in 2001 by Tim Allan, [1] a former adviser to Tony Blair [2] and director of communications at BSkyB. Portland provides communications and public affairs advice to brands and high-profile individuals.

Contents

History

Portland was founded by Tim Allan in 2001. The Guardian reported that the consultancy launched on the back of a contract from then BSkyB chief executive Tony Ball, who had previously been Allan's boss.

In April 2012, Allan was reported to have sold a majority stake in Portland to media marketing company Omnicom, for an estimated £20 million. [3] The sale is said to have completed in 2019. [4]

In November 2019, parent company Omnicom merged Portland with another of its subsidiaries, the public affairs firm GPlus. [5] The merger was completed in June 2020, with the GPlus brand retired. As of June 2020, the company had eight offices: in London, Washington D.C., Doha, Nairobi, Singapore, Brussels, Paris and Berlin.

Clients

Current and previous clients include the British Bankers' Association, [6] Tullow Oil, [7] BTA Bank, AkzoNobel and AB InBev on behalf of its Stella Artois brand. [8]

Staff

Portland's chief executive officer is Victoria Dean, also known as Vikki Dean, who took over in late 2022. [9] Dean is a former British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and was also global head of public policy at Google. [10] In March 2024, PR Week reported she would be stepping down from her chief executive role at Portland. [11]

The company's first chief executive was founder Tim Allan. He stepped down in November 2019 when Portland's parent company Omnicom merged the company with another public affairs firm, GPlus. Allan was succeeded as chief executive by Mark Flanagan in January 2020, who held the role until 2022. [12] [5]

As of March 2024, Portland senior advisers include former Downing Street director of communications Alastair Campbell, former French diplomat Gérard Araud, former senior UEFA executive William Gaillard, and former Portland chief executive Mark Flanagan. [13]

Controversies

Appointment of James O'Shaughnessy

In January 2012, Portland Communications hired James O'Shaughnessy, Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of policy, as Chief Policy Advisor. The Independent reported that O'Shaughnessy failed to inform the Whitehall committee which vets jobs for officials leaving Government, which was described by Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee of Standards in Public Life, as a "serious error of judgement". [14] O'Shaughnessy was elevated to the peerage in 2015. [15]

Wikipedia editing

In January 2012, MP Tom Watson discovered that Portland Communications had tried to remove references to a client's brand of lager, Stella Artois, from the wife-beater disambiguation page in Wikipedia. [8] [16] The beer had become known in the UK as the "wife-beater", in part because of its high alcohol content, and perceived connection with aggression and binge drinking. [8] [17]

Qatar

In 2014 it was revealed that Portland had been hired for $150,000 by Qatar "for a communications/political push targeted at Congress and federal agencies to improve ties with the US". [18]

The firm admitted to on-line attacks of critics of their client, the government of Qatar, who hosted the 2022 World Cup. [19]

Labour Party conspiracy accusations

In 2016, left-wing political website The Canary alleged that Portland staff were behind the orchestration of a "coup" against the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, after a wave of mass resignations from his front bench. [20] Len McCluskey of British and Irish trade union Unite told Andrew Marr on his Sunday morning programme that "I'm amazed that some of the MPs have fallen into a trap." Referring to Portland Communications as a "sinister force", McCluskey said, "This is a PR company with strong links to Tony Blair and right-wing Labour MPs who've been involved in this orchestrated coup, and the coup has failed". Portland Communications denied any allegations as "a ridiculous conspiracy theory and completely untrue". [21]

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References

  1. ↑ 'Profile: Tim Allan, MD, Portland', PR Week, 13 May 2009.
  2. ↑ Allan, Tim (3 October 2010). "An open letter to Ed Miliband: 'If you bury the lessons of New Labour you will bury the party'". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ "Tim Allan on explosive growth at Portland | PR Week". www.prweek.com. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "Tim Allan Office". Tim Allan Office. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. 1 2 "Portland & Gplus Complete Merger Under One Brand". PRovoke Media. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ↑ "Business Finance Taskforce hands banking brief to Portland". PR Week.
  7. ↑ "Public Affairs: The Week in Lobbying". PR Week.
  8. 1 2 3 Wright, Oliver (4 January 2012). "Lobbying company tried to wipe out 'wife beater' beer references". The Independent.
  9. ↑ "Leadership Team - Portland". Portland. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ↑ "Victoria Dean, chief executive officer of Portland, on the PRmoment Podcast | PRMoment.com". PRMoment.com. 21 November 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ "Portland CEO and MD step down". PR Week. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ "Portland Names New CEO As Mark Flanagan Steps Down". PRovoke Media. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ "Senior advisors - Portland". Portland. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ↑ Wright, Oliver (10 January 2012). "O'Shaughnessy and Portland". The Independent.
  15. ↑ "HM Government".
  16. ↑ "Watson's research into Portland and Bell Pottinger". tom-watson.co.uk. 2 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "The Argus - Pubs ban Stella Artois". Archive.theargus.co.uk. 18 November 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  18. ↑ "Hamas-Backing Qatar Contracts Top Flight Public Relations Firm to Improve Ties With US". Algemeiner.com.
  19. ↑ Farey-Jones, Daniel. "Portland linked to site attacking critics of client Qatar's World Cup". www.prweek.com.
  20. ↑ Ross, Jamie (3 July 2016). "There's A Bizarre Conspiracy Theory That A "Blairite" PR Company Orchestrated The Rebellion Against Corbyn". BuzzFeed.
  21. ↑ McSmith, Andy (3 July 2016). "Union chief says PR company is 'sinister' mastermind behind Labour leadership crisis". The Independent. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
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