Bell Yard Press Coverage

PR machine wins bankers sympathy...for free;

By David Charter Chief Political Correspondent
13 July 2006

The NatWest Three have won acres of favourable press coverage, thanks in part to an efficient media campaign run by two well-connected London-based PR companies.

Two key PR figures have worked closely with David Bermingham, the most proactive of the three, to provide detailed briefings for journalists, MPs and peers, as well as photo opportunities.

One is Adrian Flook, a former Tory MP who lost his seat of Taunton to the Liberal Democrats last year. The other is Melanie Riley, an experienced executive who has worked with Nike and Elite Model Management.

PR experts believe that the campaign has helped the NatWest Three to successfully challenge the image of wealthy individuals using their financial muscle and connections to evade justice.

They faced taunts yesterday in the Commons from the Labour MP Anne Snelgrove, who questioned whether the debate had been "unduly influenced by a PR campaign funded by multimillionaires who have made a packet out of selling shares in Enron". But Mr Flook and Ms Riley insisted yesterday that they were working pro bono.

Mr Flook, who worked in PR before joining the Commons in 2001 and now works for M: Communications, said that he had heard about the case through a friend who knew Mr Bermingham. Mr Flook said: "We have been doing it for free. It is a slur that it is wealthy bankers who have been buying expensive PR. One of my colleagues, who is a family friend of the Berminghams, made a case and M: Communications saw it as pro bono work. I haven't even billed them for any taxis.

"My experience was in PR before I got into the House of Commons so I know how Parliament works."

Ms Riley is the co-founder of Bell Yard, a "crisis communications and reputation management consultancy" hired by the NatWest Three last year. But this year she started to work without payment.

She said: "I have been working pro bono for the last six months because I believe in the case. We have worked hard to ensure that people understood the inequity of the Extradition Act."

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