Wasn’t there a news item recently saying that the government has bought itself the services of a British public relations consultant? Where is he?

Published: April 27, 2014 at 8:24pm

The Chris Packham/Malta police debacle has made the headlines in the British national press (The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail) and the BBC.

What do the Malta government and its ex BBC PR consultant Leslie Skipper plan to do about this? Asking what the government head of communications’ plans are is pointless.

Their idea of public relations and public affairs does not go beyond what is required to shore up their voter base.

Telegraph packham

Packham Independent London

BBC Packham Police

BBC Packham

Daily Mail Packham

The Guardian




16 Comments Comment

  1. Matthew S says:

    A few days ago it was reported that the British Labour Party has hired the ex-Obama adviser David Axelrod.

    In Malta, the news that the government has hired a British consultant took ages to come out, and for a while, it almost denied that he has been engaged.

    Incidentally, I don’t like the fact that both British parties now have Obama spin doctors (the Tories have Jim Messina). The political world is still enthralled with the, admittedly impressive, Obama victories but the engagement of these consultants feels cynical.

    You work for a party’s election if you really believe in its policies. You don’t work for any party which hires you. It just feels wrong.

    Besides, the British system (and the Maltese one) is not a presidential one. I doubt that the Americanisation of European elections contributes towards a better democratic process.

    Other countries need to get over the excitement of American elections and focus on their own government set-up.

    I wonder how the British public will view the engagement of these consultants. They’re already highly cynical of their politicians. I think this is a bit of a wild gamble for the parties.

  2. frank says:

    As one who just can’t stand this shooting mania, I think this is an excellent turn of events.

    The police, a sizeable number of whom are probably hunters or in cahoots with them (don’t ask me why, but I just imagine them to be the sort of trigger happy sort who love the idea of exercising their power over a helpless creature), will have wanted to bring across the message that they’re going to be making hell the life of anyone from the anti-hunting lobby.

    What this will actually bring about though, or so I hope, is more pressure on Malta to put an end to it once and for all.

  3. anthony says:

    What the PN in government built in 25 years the PL demolishes in four hours.

    If Peter Paul thought he could take on a seasoned BBC journalist without courting a PR disaster of the first magnitude, he is even more stupid than he seems to be.

  4. Harry Purdie says:

    It will get worse. Incompetents rule.

  5. Min Jaf says:

    Ohra bhal tal-passaporti din. Kompli ghoddosna fil-hmieg Joseph. Bidla tassew, imma dejjem ghal-aghar.

  6. Gahan says:

    Our prime minister employed an ex-BBC journalist for his PR expertise and got another one undoing all the work.

  7. ciccio says:

    The PR damage done by the police here is bigger than the harm done by those hunters who felt “provocated.”

  8. Pikkadili says:

    Meanwhile, Malta’s High Commissioner in London was having oysters for lunch in Piccadilly Circus. X’nitnejku.

  9. M. Cassar says:

    The stupider the client the more difficult to find a good angle. Sometimes, when the transgression is so great, keeping mum and putting out hearsay works best. We are being shown how this works by the ‘best’ aren’t we?

  10. Peter Grech says:

    Always making headline for the wrong reasons

  11. Gee Dee says:

    But we needed a change. Hope most of change needing moaners will one day rot in hell.

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