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"I will abide by civil service neutrality" says Downing Street's new spin supremo.
Nicholas Jones
DATELINE: 2/7/09
Simon Lewis, the Prime Minister's new official spokesman, says he only took the job on condition it would be non political and that he would be able to conduct himself with civil service neutrality.
Unlike previous Downing Street directors of communications such as Alastair Campbell, Lewis is not a Labour Party appointee. He has accepted a two-year civil service contract and when asked (at a debate in London at the Reform Club 1.7.2009) whether he would like to remain at No.10 should David Cameron defeat Gordon Brown in the general election expected in May 2010, he made it clear he has an open mind and intends to wait and see what happens.
Appointing Lewis represents something of a departure for the Downing Street press office because he comes from the world of corporate communications and has not worked directly for the news media or been a career civil servant.
His declaration that he would abide by civil service neutrality was perhaps only to be expected but he was adamant that wanted to be part of Britain's "much under-rated permanent civil service" and help the government of the day achieve the level of transparency which the corporate sector had been forced adopt.
Lewis spent two years at Buckingham Palace as the Queen's press secretary in the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, but most of his career has been with FTSE companies such as Nat West, Centrica and most recently Vodafone for which he was group director of corporate affairs.
His brother is Will Lewis, editor on chief of the Daily Telegraph, and the lesson he drew from the whole saga about the abuse of MPs' expenses was that it would be unwise to write off the printed media because as a result of its exclusive coverage, the Telegraph had sold more newspapers than at any time since World War II and the death of Diana.
Lewis was adamant that the independence of the civil service needs to be sustained:
"As a civil servant in Downing Street I shall be communicating on behalf of the government, not on behalf of a political party. I only accepted the job on that basis. Being a civil servant gives me more credibility and a sense of pride to be joining a much under-rated civil service…It is important there are people in the civil service who bring neutrality to communications…Authenticity in communications is the key, the more authentic the more likely the message will be received".
When asked whether he would seek to curb the leaking of ministerial announcements in advance of parliamentary statements, Lewis acknowledged that the 24/7 media environment had forced politicians to respond to the news agenda and the response of the government had been that the "engine has to be fed".
But he hoped politicians would come to realise that they "did not always have to respond to the media machine…Perhaps the political class have to find a new way to set the agenda".
Part of the problem was that national politics had become "more prominent" than in the past and that local people had lost contact with local politics. He hoped that in the wake of the scandal about MPs' expenses that people would engage more and "make a real contribution to localism".
One consequence of MPs being forced to accept greater disclosures about their pay and allowances was that it would in turn put pressure on the entire political process and the news media to become more transparent.
Lewis believed that the corporate sector had gone further than either political parties or the news media to embrace transparency. Companies had been forced to be far more open about their financial affairs; full disclosure was required in annual accounts and reports and about directors' remuneration.
"My hunch is that the British people will now have more influence on politics…I shall be interested to see what turnout we get in the next election and what local electors decide about some of the MPs who have been in the news".
Last modified: Thursday, July 2, 2009
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Government Policy
Speaker's call for an end to ministerial leaks: Downing Street's new media chief could play a role
Photographers snap into action over new law
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Televised briefings are the way forward
Media gagged in the case of Daniel James
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New Threat to Media Freedom
Blair's farewell: No politician can live by spin alone
Government response to Public Voice Petition on Digital Dividend
New Media services should not be regulated like TV, says Lords Committee
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