Dizzy and Guido: McCarthyism Red in Tooth and Claw

DizzyThinks has a story about a "Labour connected" PR agency picking up £1.8M from work for the DCLG (aka ODPM) and Treasury.

Tribal are a recruitment firm that specialises in national and local government and the third sector i.e. charities and causes. This total very likely includes the advertising space they have bought - on which they will retain 10-15% commission - as well as head hunting services, venue charges for recruitment exercises and the like.

The Labour connection is through one director of a subsidiary called Geronimo Communications who used to be an "insider". GC were dubbed the Number One Consumer PR Agency by PR Week for 2006.

I'm not sure this story amounts to a tin never mind a hill of beans. No feeding frenzy necessary.

No information is provided on the various other Departments and who they each use for head-hunting, space-buying and artwork. Perhaps one or two of these have members or former "insiders" of other political parties working for them or their subsidiaries.

There seems to be a problem in Tory blogging circles of anyone who has ever been Labour working anywhere else in the public sector, charities or the service industries which rub along with government. Kinda like McCarthyism. Support Labour? Go on the dole. Very old school.

GUIDO'S STORY is about Labour peers being forced to do more of the quango work as the Tory peers are otherwise engaged in commercial boardrooms. Something like that anyway.