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Seems that Tony and his buddies still have the grip on the old "new" labour, and that 170 MP's are well in his pocket. The shadow of the compulsive liar and his political network is strong.
As the chaos surrounding Jeremy Corbyn continues at an unprecedented rate, The Canary can exclusively reveal more elements to the Labour coup that has been unfolding since the EU referendum result.
In an overarching investigation, more links have come to light between Portland Communications, its subsidiaries and parent company, members of staff both there and at the Fabian Society and the Progress wing of the party.
To recap:
Portland originally came to The Canary’s attention after an incident involving abuse being thrown at Jeremy Corbyn as he supported Pride in London on 25 June.
He was heckled by an apparent Labour party activist Tom Mauchline, who jeered at him that:
it’s your fault! When are you resigning? It’s your fault! I had a Polish friend in tears because you couldn’t get out the vote in Wales, the north and the Midlands. You need to resign. […] Take control Jeremy and resign […] stop using the gay movement as a shield to protect your weak leadership.
The video of the incident and a semi-professional looking interview with Mauchline appeared on the BBC website shortly afterwards. Suspicions were aroused as it seemed highly unusual for a member of the public to have a news item dedicated solely to their mobile phone footage.
Digging deeper, we found that Portland Communications appeared to be run by a group of individuals with historic links to the Blair/Brown era of the Labour party.
Originally set up in 2001 by Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair and director of communications at BSkyB, there were originally several names that stood out including:
Steve Morris, managing partner was formerly head of communications for both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Mark Flanagan, senior partner, was head of digital communications for Brown.
Justin Kerr-Stevens, partner – former communications advisor for both Blair and Brown
Rebecca Gwilliam, director – former special advisor (SpAd) for both Blair and Brown.
There was also Gregor Poynton, who describes himself as “Formerly @ScottishLabour @UKLabour @bsd […] Quite a bit of digital, politics”. Poynton is head of content and brand at Portland. The Canary originally incorrectly identified him as a prospective parliamentary candidate for Labour: we later amended this to reflect that Mr Poynton (married to former Labour MP Gemma Doyle) did not stand, but was embroiled in some controversy in Falkirk after it was alleged he had paid for 11 people to join the Labour party.
Another individual that stood out was Kevin McKeever, whose Twitter header is an image of Labour pin badges. He also works for Portland as a partner and stood twice as a PPC. McKeever was noticeable because of a flurry of anti-Corbyn activity on his Twitter account, including this video from the Momentum rally on Monday:
.
But go higher up the food chain at Portland, and the links are even stronger. Its advisory council is made up of three members: Alastair Campbell, Blair’s infamous spin doctor; Jimmy Leach, Blair’s former head of communications and previously executive editor at the Guardian, and Kitty Ussher, former Labour MP for Burnley, parliamentary private secretary to Margaret Hodge (and who sits on the Progress committee with her) and a writer for Peter Mandelson’s “Policy Network”.
Furthermore:
at the top of the Portland tree are the likes of Tony Ball, former CEO of BSkyB and Fox; George Pascoe-Watson, former political editor of the Sun; Jim Rosenberg, former head of communications for the World Bank, Lisa Shields, vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Sir Stephen Wall, former EU adviser to Tony Blair.
In an overarching investigation, more links have come to light between Portland Communications, its subsidiaries and parent company, members of staff both there and at the Fabian Society and the Progress wing of the party.
To recap:
Portland originally came to The Canary’s attention after an incident involving abuse being thrown at Jeremy Corbyn as he supported Pride in London on 25 June.
He was heckled by an apparent Labour party activist Tom Mauchline, who jeered at him that:
it’s your fault! When are you resigning? It’s your fault! I had a Polish friend in tears because you couldn’t get out the vote in Wales, the north and the Midlands. You need to resign. […] Take control Jeremy and resign […] stop using the gay movement as a shield to protect your weak leadership.
The video of the incident and a semi-professional looking interview with Mauchline appeared on the BBC website shortly afterwards. Suspicions were aroused as it seemed highly unusual for a member of the public to have a news item dedicated solely to their mobile phone footage.
Digging deeper, we found that Portland Communications appeared to be run by a group of individuals with historic links to the Blair/Brown era of the Labour party.
Originally set up in 2001 by Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair and director of communications at BSkyB, there were originally several names that stood out including:
Steve Morris, managing partner was formerly head of communications for both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Mark Flanagan, senior partner, was head of digital communications for Brown.
Justin Kerr-Stevens, partner – former communications advisor for both Blair and Brown
Rebecca Gwilliam, director – former special advisor (SpAd) for both Blair and Brown.
There was also Gregor Poynton, who describes himself as “Formerly @ScottishLabour @UKLabour @bsd […] Quite a bit of digital, politics”. Poynton is head of content and brand at Portland. The Canary originally incorrectly identified him as a prospective parliamentary candidate for Labour: we later amended this to reflect that Mr Poynton (married to former Labour MP Gemma Doyle) did not stand, but was embroiled in some controversy in Falkirk after it was alleged he had paid for 11 people to join the Labour party.
Another individual that stood out was Kevin McKeever, whose Twitter header is an image of Labour pin badges. He also works for Portland as a partner and stood twice as a PPC. McKeever was noticeable because of a flurry of anti-Corbyn activity on his Twitter account, including this video from the Momentum rally on Monday:
.
But go higher up the food chain at Portland, and the links are even stronger. Its advisory council is made up of three members: Alastair Campbell, Blair’s infamous spin doctor; Jimmy Leach, Blair’s former head of communications and previously executive editor at the Guardian, and Kitty Ussher, former Labour MP for Burnley, parliamentary private secretary to Margaret Hodge (and who sits on the Progress committee with her) and a writer for Peter Mandelson’s “Policy Network”.
Furthermore:
at the top of the Portland tree are the likes of Tony Ball, former CEO of BSkyB and Fox; George Pascoe-Watson, former political editor of the Sun; Jim Rosenberg, former head of communications for the World Bank, Lisa Shields, vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Sir Stephen Wall, former EU adviser to Tony Blair.
Seems that Tony and his buddies still have the grip on the old "new" labour, and that 170 MP's are well in his pocket. The shadow of the compulsive liar and his political network is strong.
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