Timothy Neil Allan is a public relations consultant and was an advisor to Tony Blair from 1992 to 1998. [1] He is the founder and managing director of Portland Communications in London, England. [2] In April 2012 it was reported that Allan was set to sell a majority stake in Portland to US marketing services company Omnicom for £20 million. [3]
He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Godalming Sixth Form College, and Pembroke College, Cambridge (B.A., 1992). [4]
Between leaving work within politics and setting up his consultancy he was director of corporate communications at BSkyB. [5]
His political advisor roles were researcher for Tony Blair when he was shadow home secretary, deputy press secretary to Tony Blair, when leader of the Labour Party and from 1997 he was deputy director of communications at 10 Downing Street. [2]
In public relations and politics, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through knowingly providing a biased interpretation of an event or campaigning to influence public opinion about some organization or public figure. While traditional public relations and advertising may manage their presentation of facts, "spin" often implies the use of disingenuous, deceptive, and manipulative tactics.
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, PC, FRSL, is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.
New Labour is a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen in a draft manifesto which was published in 1996 and titled New Labour, New Life for Britain. It was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. The branding was extensively used while the party was in government between 1997 and 2010. New Labour was influenced by the political thinking of Anthony Crosland and the leadership of Blair and Brown as well as Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell's media campaigning. The political philosophy of New Labour was influenced by the party's development of Anthony Giddens' Third Way which attempted to provide a synthesis between capitalism and socialism. Mark Bevir argues that another motivation for the creation of New Labour was as a response to the emergence of the New Right which had emerged in the preceding decades. The party emphasised the importance of social justice, rather than equality, emphasising the need for equality of opportunity and believed in the use of markets to deliver economic efficiency and social justice.
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson is a British Labour politician, president of international think tank Policy Network, honorary president of the Great Britain–China Centre, and chairman of strategic advisory firm Global Counsel.
Dame Margaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South since 1983. She was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith from 1992 to 1994, and briefly served as interim Leader of the Labour Party after Smith's sudden death. She later served in the Cabinet under Prime Minister Tony Blair in a number of roles, becoming Britain's first female Foreign Secretary in 2006.
Alan Milburn is a British Labour politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, and subsequently as Secretary of State for Health until 2003, when he resigned. He briefly rejoined the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in order to manage Labour's 2005 re-election campaign. He did not seek re-election in the 2010 election.
Alastair John Campbell is a British author, journalist, broadcaster, consultant strategist and mental health campaigner. He worked as Tony Blair's spokesman and campaign director (1994–1997), then as Downing Street Press Secretary (1997–2000) for Blair, who was then Labour Prime Minister. He then became Downing Street Director of Communications and spokesman for the Labour Party (2000–2003). He returned as campaign director for Blair's third election win in 2005.
Shaun Anthony Woodward is a British politician who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for St Helens South from 2001 to 2015. He served in the cabinet from 28 June 2007 to 11 May 2010 as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Following the 2010 general election, Woodward was the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland until 7 October 2011, when he was replaced by Vernon Coaker.
In British politics, a Lib–Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.
Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City.
John McTernan is a British political strategist and commentator. He has been a political adviser to the Labour Party.
The Blair–Brown deal was a gentlemen's agreement struck between the British Labour Party politicians Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in 1994, while they were Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively.
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. After his resignation, he was appointed Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, an office which he held until 2015. He currently serves as the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, established in 2016. As Labour leader, Blair advocated the "Third Way."
The Deal is a 2003 British television film that depicts the Blair-Brown deal—a well-documented pact that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown made whereby Brown would not stand in the 1994 Labour leadership election, so that Blair could have a clear run at becoming leader of the party and later as Prime Minister instead. The film begins in 1983, as Blair and Brown are first elected to Parliament, and ended in 1994 at the Granita restaurant—the location of the supposed agreement—with a brief epilogue following the leadership contest.
Elizabeth Anne Lloyd CBE served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Prime Minister Tony Blair's last administration (2005-2007).
Philip Gould, Baron Gould of Brookwood was a British political consultant, and former advertising executive, closely linked to the Labour Party.
The Tony Blair Faith Foundation was an interfaith charitable foundation established in May 2008 by former British prime minister Tony Blair. Since December 2016 its work has been continued by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
A Journey is a memoir by Tony Blair of his tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Published in the UK on 1 September 2010, it covers events from when he became leader of the Labour Party in 1994 and transformed it into "New Labour", holding power for a party record three successive terms, to his resignation and replacement as Prime Minister by his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. Blair donated his £4.6 million advance, and all subsequent royalties, to the British Armed Forces charity The Royal British Legion. It became the fastest-selling autobiography of all time at the bookstore chain Waterstones. Promotional events were marked by anti-war protests.
Portland Communications is a political consultancy and public relations agency set up in 2001 by Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Director of Communications at BSkyB. In 2012 a majority stake in Portland was purchased by Omnicom.
Kate Garvey is an English public relations executive and a former aide to British prime minister Tony Blair. She is co-funder of Project Everyone.
![]() | This article about a person involved in governance in the United Kingdom or its predecessor states is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
![]() | This United Kingdom business–related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |