New PM, New Broadcast Opportunities for Public Affairs
As Westminster prepares for its seventh Prime Minister in a decade, our Head of News, Mike Young, explores how the arrival of a new premiership opens up an immediate space for organizations to shape the narrative. For public affairs teams, this shifting political landscape represents a major opportunity to meet the broadcast media’s need for fresh, expert insight.
So, a new PM is on the way and it looks like it’s going to be Andy Burnham. No doubt public affairs consultants across the UK are mapping out what this means for them and how they are going to get their company or clients noticed by a new team that will follow.
This will be our seventh PM in a decade, and in our world, this means a massive opportunity for companies and charities across a range of sectors to offer comment and secure broadcast opportunities around the changing political landscape. It’s not just a change of leader that’s about to happen, it’s a change of policies and how that affects us all.
As a journalist in both commercial and BBC newsrooms, I covered every change of PM from John Major onwards. Every time there was a change of political direction, it created new demand from producers to find fresh insight and analysis. Think back to Autumn 2022 when Liz Truss was the resident of 10 Downing Street for 49 tumultuous days. What caused the chaos? The “mini-budget” chock full of unfunded tax cuts that sent the pound plunging and the costs of borrowing soaring. Most of us were anticipating a Budget in the late Autumn or Winter this year but now, who knows? Could we be about to see a big financial change of direction by a new Chancellor as soon as MPs return to Westminster after the Summer recess ends on 1st Sept?
The power of broadcast to make an impact in the chambers of Westminster can be huge so it’s certainly well worth having a think about how broadcast can help get your policy issues noticed.
If Burnham does become PM, he’s seen as an interventionist when it comes to the state. That might mean the renationalising of water companies, sweeping reforms to social care, big increases in council house construction and maybe even the return of plans for HS2 to reach Manchester. Look out too for a reversal (at least in part) to National Insurance increases on employers and also a cut in business rates for the likes of pubs and smaller shops.
The news agenda right now, and for the foreseeable future, is going to be dominated by who leads Labour and the country AND what direction that will take all of us. The question remains, what are your thoughts on what that direction should be, could be and how it all ends up.
