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Politics on Sunday – social media, Brexit and pizza

May 21, 2018/0 Comments/in Politics on Sunday, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Canvas Blog Posts /by Daniel Loman

Sunday’s political shows had a range of political commentators discussing social media, Brexit, obesity, party policy and the East Coast Main Line.

Various newspaper outlets were unhappy with the guests on the Sunday political shows due to the heavy presence of those who campaigned for ‘Remain’ in the EU referendum. The star of Sunday’s shows was not a guest, though, it was Emma Barnett (standing in for Marr) who put the politicians under the microscope.

Matt Hancock represented the Government on both Peston and Marr. Hancock was asked by Barnett about an invitation he sent to 14 large social media companies to attend a Government meeting, which resulted in only four attending. Hancock tried to dress this up by saying other social media companies exist and have issues, but Barnett pointed out that it does not inspire much confidence when these companies do not bother to attend something organised by the Government.

Barnett said Mark Zuckerberg has been before the US senate and will be going before the EU parliament. The appearance before the EU parliament is in question as reports say MEPs want the meeting to be live streamed whereas the agreement was that it would be behind closed doors, possibly the reason Zuckerberg agreed.

Peston reiterated that the Government does not have the power to do anything to social media companies. Hancock replied by saying the Government will publish a white paper later this year and will legislate in the next couple of years to get the powers it needs.

Hancock was also asked about Brexit by Barnett, he said it is the job of Michel Barnier to say the UK is in a weak position and it is the job of the Government to get the best possible deal.

Shadow International Trade Secretary, Barry Gardiner, faced Emma Barnett and was grilled on Labour policy relating to the single market. Focus was put on the Labour candidate for the upcoming Lewisham East by-election, Janet Daby. Barnett said Daby is asking people to vote for her and she supports staying in the single market, which is not Labour policy.

Gardiner was then questioned on his view versus the Labour party’s position. Gardiner said the position of the Labour party is to hold the Government to account on the promise they made to secure the same benefits outside the EU as the country enjoys inside the EU. Barnett presented Gardiner with his own remarks criticising this position. Barnett noted that Jeremy Corbyn has kept Gardiner in place despite this criticism but Owen Smith did not enjoy the same privilege.

Nicola Sturgeon was on Peston and was asked about childhood obesity as the First Minister has committed to childhood obesity being halved by 2030. Sturgeon met with Jamie Oliver and was asked whether she is supportive of the two-for-one pizza deals. Sturgeon said childhood obesity needs to be tackled and over consumption is a part of this but she is not looking to make shopping more expensive for families. Sturgeon said over the next two weeks, a debate will be restarted about why independence is an opportunity for Scotland.

Len McCluskey was also on Peston and seemed to be somewhat sympathetic to Ken Livingstone when asked whether the former London Mayor should be expelled from the party. McCluskey said a rule against stupidity would result in many people being expelled including Livingstone. He was accused of dodging the question as Livingstone has not been expelled for being stupid. Peston asked McCluskey about his opinion on the possible deselection of Labour MPs who criticise Corbyn, McCluskey said criticism is fine so long as it is constructive.

McCluskey then got into a debate with Lord Peter Mandelson on the terms by which the UK will leave the single market. McCluskey said the Labour party would negotiate better with the EU than the current Government; Mandelson said the Government is making the same claim, but it has little real meaning on its own.

The day after the Royal Wedding, Lord Mandelson said the wedding made him so happy he is now thinking about getting married.

Speaking on the East Coast Main Line being bought back into public hands, Shadow Transport Secretary, Andy McDonald, said private companies do not invest in the railway; Sophie Ridge said Virgin had invested more in two years than the five before that. McDonald was asked by Ridge whether fares under Labour would go down – he could not commit to this but said they would be more affordable. Minister for Digital, Margot James, said the people who support renationalisation did not live through the days of British Rail.

McDonald was also asked about allegations of bullying by John Bercow, the Shadow Transport Secretary responded by saying he thinks Bercow is an excellent speaker.

Check out our Canvas of all the best coverage from the Sunday Political shows here and find out how to make your own Canvas here.

Political Headlines – Russian money, AI, Johnson’s warning and Galileo rival

May 21, 2018/0 Comments/in Political Headlines, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database Blog Posts /by Thomas Stevenson

Today’s Political Headlines include turning a blind eye to Russian money, AI to save lives, Johnson’s warning and the UK’s Galileo rival.

Government criticised for turning ‘blind eye’ to Russian money
The BBC says that a new report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has found that London is being used to hide ‘corrupt assets’ of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies, with the UK turning a ‘blind eye’ to ‘dirty money’. Ben Wallace, the Security and Economic Crime Minister, has cast doubt on the report’s findings because he was not called to give evidence to the committee. Separately, the Financial Times reports that the UK has not renewed the visa of Russian oligarch and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, leading him to miss the FA Cup final.

May pledges to use artificial intelligence to save lives
The Times reports that Theresa May is to deliver a speech today in which she will promise to use artificial intelligence to study patient data to stop cancer or dementia before people know that they have it. She will say that this new technology is key to national prosperity and will save tens of thousands of lives a year within fifteen years.

Johnson delivers ‘thinly-veiled warning’ over customs union
The Guardian claims that Boris Johnson has ‘delivered a thinly-veiled warning’ to the Prime Minister that he still expects her to deliver a deal which would avoid a backstop keeping the UK aligned to the customs union after 2020. He said that ‘Brexiters fearing betrayal over the customs backstop must understand that the PM has been very clear that it is not an outcome we desire; we want a deal with the EU and she will deliver it.’

UK may partner with Australia to deliver Galileo rival
According to the Financial Times, the UK is aiming to launch the first tenders for a satellite navigation system to rival the EU’s Galileo project later this year, and hopes that Australia will become a partner in the programme. The BBC adds that Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, is to launch the UK’s first space strategy today, claiming that the UK needs to be ready to counter ‘intensifying threats’ in space, such as the ‘jamming’ of satellites.

Johnson visits Argentina
The Daily Mail reports on Boris Johnson’s visit to Argentina, the first by a British Foreign Secretary for 22 years. He laid wreathes with his Argentinian counterpart Jorge Faurie at a ceremony at the Monument to the Fallen in the Falklands, commemorating the Argentinian troops who died in the Falklands War. Argentina’s chief of the council of ministers, Mercos Pena, will reciprocate this gesture at St Paul’s Cathedral next month.

Gove and Davidson launch new thinktank
The Guardian says that Michael Gove and Ruth Davidson are to launch a new Tory thinktank, called Onward. Gove argues that his party ‘is at its best when it appeals beyond its core vote and puts forward a reforming, forward-looking agenda that responds to the concerns of the entire nation.’ Writing in the paper, Davidson calls on Conservatives to embrace the country’s ‘open liberal outlook as a positive – and not a threat.’

MPs criticise Motability over pay and reserves
The BBC reports that a report by the Commons Treasury and Work & Pensions Committees has found that the £1.7m paid to the chief executive of the Motability scheme is ‘totally unacceptable’, while funds of £2.4bn were being needlessly hoarded. The Government has said that the National Audit Office will look into the issues raised in the report.

Remainers accused of exploiting Irish border issue
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, former Conservative Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson and DUP Brexit Spokesman Sammy Wilson accuse remainers of having ‘cynically and recklessly exploited’ the Irish border issue. A new report released by Queen’s University Belfast finds that just one in five Northern Irish residents supports a united Ireland.

Learn more about Vuelio political services

Five Things: No influencers, New Look, Yanny, Lil Tay, and Zuckerberg and Leveson

May 18, 2018/0 Comments/in Five Things, PR Pulse, PR, PR News, Social Media, Blogger, Blog Awards Media Analysis, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

So much has happened that choosing Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed this week has been like deciding who will accompany Meghan Markle down the aisle, except we didn’t end up with Charles.

1. No Influencers Allowed

The Vuelio Blog Awards are back, back, back! The biggest night of the year to celebrate bloggers is taking place at the Bloomsbury Big Top in London, on 30 November. Blogging’s best will be dressed to the nines enjoying live circus acts, fine dining and the greatest award ceremony on earth (probably). As part of the launch we have just one rule, which thankfully most bloggers seem to agree with: No Influencers Allowed.

2. New Look New Price

New Look were in trouble this week after being accused of having a ‘Fat Tax’. It was revealed that larger clothes (in the same style) were more expensive than their smaller version. A shopper spotted a pair of trousers in its Curves range, which were 15% more than a pair in the main collection. The story created a mini storm as many believed it was a tax on being fat, while others thought it was reasonable to charge more for using more material. New Look has said it is now reviewing prices and added: ‘We are proud of the ranges we offer to our Plus Size customers and value all customers, no matter what their body shape or size.’

3. Yanny or Laurel?

Is it Yanny or is it Laurel? Different people hear different things and like ‘The Dress’, it’s divided the internet. Obviously, it’s Yanny, but some still insist on saying they hear Laurel. The Kardashians are debating it and Trump’s presidential team (including Trump himself) even joined in. You can decide for yourself by listening to the clip in the tweet below:

Survey: Yanny or Laurel?

Reply with MOR TAG@delavinkisses @mor1019 #MORPinoyBiga10 Pretty Boy by Kisses Delavin pic.twitter.com/jgrpTfq4w3

— Kissable_Apple (@KD_Aaapple) May 17, 2018

If you want to be really freaked out, check this out:

Think the Laurel or Yanny thing is weird?

You can hear the words ‘Brainstorm’ or ‘Green Needle’ based on which word you think about. Try it.pic.twitter.com/7TrS9XNhNR

— George Aylett (@GeorgeAylett) May 17, 2018

4. Lil Tay

If you haven’t heard of Lil Tay, fair enough, but the nine-year-old ‘flexer’ has nearly two million followers on Instagram. Posting pictures and videos showing off her extravagant wealth, Lil Tay hit the news this week, not for being under age on Instagram (which says all users must be over 13), but instead for allegedly causing her mother to leave her job as a realtor. It turns out Lil Tay and her mother were using the boss of the real estate company’s car as well as houses they were selling as the backdrop to the videos. The mother seems to have been directing and filming, but the move has seemingly backfired. Whether Lil Tay now has enough momentum to support the family through Instagram remains to be seen.

5. Zuck and Leveson out (again)

Last week we reported that the second part of the Leveson inquiry was voted down in parliament. This week we can report that the second part of the Leveson inquiry has been voted down in parliament. Yes, again. The Lords sent it back hoping the slim margin from the last vote could be overturned, but the Government were victorious once more (by an increased margin), so it looks like Leveson II has been well and truly defeated.

A few months ago, it was announced that Mark Zuckerberg would not attend the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee meeting to answer for Facebook, instead sending CTO Mike Schroepfer. The Committee have tried again but, once more, Zuckerberg has declined the invitation. As if to rub salt into the wound, a day later he accepted an invitation to meet the representatives of the European Parliament on a trip that will also take in French officials. It’s not clear why the UK has been snubbed in favour of its European neighbours.

Did we miss anything? Let us know on Twitter @Vuelio.

Political Headlines – Lord Pickles, Afghanistan, Bercow and Leadsom, and betting machines

May 18, 2018/0 Comments/in Political Headlines, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database Blog Posts /by Thomas Stevenson

Today’s Political Headlines include Conservative peers potentially including Eric Pickles, troops to Afghanistan, Bercow calling Leadsom a ‘stupid woman’ and betting machine stakes delayed by two years.

May to use royal wedding to distract from announcement of new peers
The Daily Mirror claims that Theresa May is using the royal wedding as a distraction from the announcement of ten more Conservative peers. A source in the Cabinet Office told the paper that it would be ‘a good time to bury bad news’, with potential candidates being former MPs Sir Eric Pickles, Peter Lilley, Sir Edward Garnier, Julian Brazier and Andrew Tyrie. New Labour peers are expected to include Martha Osamor and Iain McNicol, while former DUP MP William McCrea is also expected to join the House of Lords.

UK considers sending hundreds more troops to Afghanistan
According to The Times, the Government is considering sending hundreds more troops to Afghanistan following pressure from President Trump. An announcement is due to me made at a Nato summit in July, with one plan under consideration being for around 400 additional personnel to be deployed as part of a Nato training mission, almost doubling the number of UK troops in the country.

Bercow accused of calling Leadsom a ‘stupid woman’
The Daily Telegraph reports that Commons Speaker John Bercow has been accused of calling the Leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, a ‘stupid woman’ in what the paper calls a ‘foul-mouthed tirade’ on Wednesday. The Speaker’s Office claimed that it was ‘an unusual and controversial day’ on which ‘some strong and differing views were expressed on all sides’.

Cut to betting stakes may be delayed by two years
The Times claims that the cut on the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals from £100 to £2 may not be implemented for another two years, with the Treasury advocating that the measure comes into force in 2020. Tracey Crouch, the minister responsible, told the Commons that bookmakers would be given a ‘reasonable’ time to adjust.

Government set to ban flammable cladding
The Daily Mail reports that the Government is set to ban flammable cladding on tower blocks, following an angry reaction to Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of fire safety rules which did not back a wholesale ban of the material. Despite her recommendation, Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary told the Commons that the Government would consult on introducing a ban.

Greg Clark asks CMA to consider Sainsbury’s-Asda deal’s impact on suppliers
The Financial Times reports that Business Secretary Greg Clark has written to the Competition and Markets Authority to insist that its inquiry to the proposed takeover of Asda by Sainsbury’s examines the implications for supermarket suppliers. He wrote that this issue had been raised as part of his engagement with the sector.

Varadkar says that UK must keep somes ties to single market to avoid hard border
The Daily Mail says that the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has warned that the UK must keep some ties to the single market after Brexit in order to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. He met Theresa May yesterday, cautioning that addressing the border issue would ‘require more than just customs’. The Sun claims the EU believes that a proposed ‘max fac’ customs system would not be ready for decades, with an official sarcastically suggesting that it might not be ready until 2085.

Neil Hamilton ousted as leader of UKIP in the Welsh Assembly
The BBC reports that Neil Hamilton has been ousted as leader of the UKIP group in the Welsh Assembly. His replacement is Caroline Jones, who won a vote held by the group yesterday afternoon. She said Hamilton had ‘done a good job’ and would be ‘difficult to follow’.

Do you need Vuelio political services?

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

May 17, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, SEO, PR News PR Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is often seen as the topic of unwanted emails, confusing code speak and consultancy advice. This guest post from Art Raifi, founder and owner of Black Bird Marketing, aims to clarify what SEO is, why it’s important and what you can do to improve yours.

According to Search Engine Land, ‘SEO is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines’. Accordingly, we can say that SEO optimises a point of contact (i.e. website) for search engines (i.e. Google and Bing).

If you are new to the topic than you might ask, ‘Why would I want to optimise my professional website for search engines?’

A great SEO strategy takes into account optimisation based on relevancy because search engines evaluate the content of a website.

How to Optimise for Search Engines
To optimise user-experiences, search engines have developed complex algorithms that evaluate the composition of a website based on certain criteria. These criteria include, but are not limited to:

Quality of the content
On-page and off-page optimisation
Meta tags
Loading speed of the website
Relevance
Authority and more

Based on these criteria, the algorithm can detect which websites are optimised and which aren’t. In turn determining which sites to rank in its search results.

Google and Bing’s mission are to offer users the information that they are looking for instantly. For example, if you are searching for a keyword, such as ‘Dogs’ the search engine will prompt you with numerous links of dog related pages. The links are ranked from the most optimised, relevant and authoritative pages to the least.

However, gaining the trust of Google and ranking for specific keywords (in our case ‘Dogs’) is not an easy task. SEO is an ongoing process that needs to be supported by a long-term strategy. There are two factors that have to be taken into consideration when deciding whether to engage in SEO efforts, which are time and competition.

The Time Factor
Time is a valuable resource in the SEO world. Search Engines like to rank authoritative websites. But what gives a site authority?

In SEO, authority is defined by many sub factors, including the age of the website, the number of referrals that link back to the website (i.e. social sharing, hyperlinks across other pages) and the quality of the content (is it reliable?).

Experts claim that SEO efforts take a minimum of six to 12 months to show any results. This is largely due to the fact that search engines are continuously crawling (looking into) thousands of websites.

The Competition Factor
In addition to the time factor, there is also competition. SEO keywords are defined as specific phrases that a user searches for in Google or Bing.

On one hand, there are competitive keywords that drive tons of traffic to sites ranked for that specific keyword; and on the other hand, there are less competitive keywords that generate significantly less traffic.

The goal of SEO experts is to find keywords that are not too competitive, but they carry the potential to generate relevant organic traffic. The process of finding a keyword is known as keyword research, and it involves the use of various tools that help us understand the competitiveness and relevance of various keywords.

Tools such as SEMrush, seoMOZ, Wordtracker, and Google Keyword Planner provide the information necessary to find relevant keywords for which you can rank.

Relevancy and Authority
Up until this point, we have talked about the importance of optimisation and its impact on SEO. However, SEO is much more than entering a few code snippets to the website or changing header titles and descriptions. While optimising is extremely important, one must also consider the relevance of the content and the perception that the website has in the eyes of the search engines.

Relevancy
Relevancy, in SEO, is defined by the relationship between a particular keyword and the content of the website.

To illustrate let’s return to the ‘Dog’ keyword example. A page that talks about Cars will never rank for a keyword such as ‘dog videos’ – irrespective of the links that it has generated. That’s because search engines have grown to become smart machines that can’t be fooled.

Their advanced algorithms do not rank pages, unless the selected keywords have a strong relationship with the content found on the page.

When optimising your pages, take into account the relationship between the content of that page and the keyword.

Authority
We have already defined authority in relation to time. In reality, search engines use hundreds of factors when evaluating the authority of the page.

Active websites are expected to generate external links that the search engines use as signals to give the site the authority it deserves.

External links, otherwise known as backlinks, are one of the many important factors on which the rank of your page depends. Various updates and patches have rendered many factors irrelevant, but backlinks have successfully survived the test of time.

Of course, backlinks – similar to keywords – have to be relevant to the content of the page.

NOTE: Be mindful of those trying to sell you backlinks. It’s the easiest way for you to get blacklisted by Google and other search engines.

Lastly, in SEO, quality will always beat quantity; 1,000 links from sites that do not rank, are irrelevant and untrusted by search engines, does not compare to one quality link from The Economist.

Final Words
In the last decade, Search Engine Optimisation has grown to become a vehicle that drives the growth of local, internet and international businesses.

At the same time, SEO has shifted the way businesses function and compete. In turn, this has prompted many to engage in SEO efforts, in an attempt to stay ahead of competition.

When optimizing your website for search engines, you should take into consideration relevancy and authority. Make sure your content is relevant to the queries or keywords and keep building links over time to increase the authority of your site.

Accomplishing these steps will take time, effort and money – factors which have traditionally discouraged businesses to jump into SEO.

Yet, those who neglect it are missing out on a unique opportunity to take their businesses to the next level. Businesses are now being forced into SEO or risk losing out to the competition.

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Political Headlines – betting machines, customs union, Brexit and East Coast

May 17, 2018/0 Comments/in Political Headlines, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database Blog Posts /by Thomas Stevenson

Today’s Political Headlines include the cut to betting machine stakes, staying in the customs union beyond 2021, the Government’s 15th defeat on Brexit Bill in the Lords and the nationalisation of East Coast rail.

Government cuts betting machine stakes
As the BBC reports, the Government has announced that the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals is to be reduced to £2 from £100 under new rules. Sports Minister Tracey Crouch said that the change would ‘reduce harm for the most vulnerable’, but bookmakers have warned that the move could force them to close thousands of outlets

UK to tell EU it is prepared to stay aligned to customs union beyond 2021
The Daily Telegraph claims that the UK is to tell the EU that it is prepared to stay aligned to the customs union as a time-limited ‘backstop’, if new border technology is not ready by 2021. The plans were agreed at a meeting on the Brexit ‘war cabinet’ on Tuesday, despite objections from leading Brexiteers. Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned against creating ‘a position that is more attractive than a permanent deal’.

Lords inflect fifteenth defeat on Brexit bill
The Guardian says that the House of Lords has inflicted its fifteenth defeat on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, with the Government losing a vote on an amendment on increasing environmental protection after Brexit by 294 votes to 233. The Government now has to decide when to bring the bill back to the House of Commons to try to undo the changes.

East Coast rail franchise taken under state control
The Financial Times reports that the East Coast rail franchise has been taken under state control for the third time in twelve years. The line is to be rebranded as London & North Eastern Railway, with a public-private partnership expected to run the franchise from 2020. Despite stripping them of the franchise, the Government has admitted that Virgin and Stagecoach are a ‘probable future bidder’ for this partnership.

Review will not recommend cladding ban
The BBC reports that a review of building regulations being carried out by Dame Judith Hackitt following the Grenfell tragedy will not recommend an outright ban on flammable cladding. Instead the review will call for a new building safety management system and criticise the current building regulations for being complex and not fit for purpose.

Police chiefs consider arming rural officers
The Times claims that the National Police Chiefs’ Council is considering plans to arm frontline police officers to cope with terrorist threats in rural areas. As the paper notes, the move ‘will be seen as controversial’ given the UK’s tradition of unarmed policing, but a spokesman said that the move was being considered in areas where having fully trained units on standby was too expensive.

UK should spend as much on defence as NHS, minister claims
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood claimed that the UK should spend as much on the armed forces as it does on the NHS, warning that the UK is taking its ‘security for granted’. Health spending currently makes up 9.8% of the UK’s national income, compared to about 2% for defence spending.

Commons committee votes against Bercow investigation
The Guardian reports that an inquiry into allegations that John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, bullied member of staff has been blocked by MPs. The probe by the parliamentary commissioner for standards, requested by Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, was rejected by the Commons Standards Committee, by three votes to two.

Learn about Vuelio political services.

No influencers allowed – the Vuelio Blog Awards 2018

May 16, 2018/11 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blog Awards PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

The Vuelio Blog Awards are the biggest celebration of bloggers in the UK. Taking place on 30 November 2018 at the Bloomsbury Big Top in London, this year’s event promises to be even bigger and better than ever before, and there’s only one rule – no influencers.

Bloggers, vloggers, Instagrammers, tweeters, Facebookers, YouTubers, writers, content creators, makers, editors, publishers, photographers, directors and small business owners – all are welcome to the greatest night of the year. So are PRs, comms pros, practitioners, officers, creatives, account managers and copywriters.

But influencers? I don’t think we’re the event for you.

Our winners from the last three years – from political supremo, Guido Fawkes, and super parent, Slummy Single Mummy to interior design guru, Mad About the House, and fashion goddess, Inthefrow – do many things; they run businesses, they write books, they tell stories and, yes, they influence their audience.

But Spielberg doesn’t call himself a ticket tout, Gordon Ramsey doesn’t call himself a tummy filler and Jessica Ennis-Hill don’t call herself a sportswear seller. When did we stop taking pride in the work we do to focus on the results we create – often for other people?

We speak to the blogosphere all the time and recently we’ve been asking them: what do you like to be called? And do you know what they don’t say? Influencer. Many tell us they’re not influencers or they don’t want to be called influencer.

That’s why The Vuelio Blog Awards don’t require a minimum social follower count to be shortlisted, you don’t have to enter yourself and we will never ask bloggers to secure votes to help them win.

Instead, we bring together a diverse panel of judges, all leaders in their respective industries, who pore over every finalist to determine the winners. They may consider how influential a blog is, but what they’re looking for is quality of content, relevance to the topic, beautiful aesthetics and uniqueness – something that makes a blog stand out against everything else in the field.

That means that when you win, you know your prize is truly deserved because your blog is outstanding. We reward the work you put in because we think this industry is hard, and the very best bloggers, vloggers and content creators deserve to be recognised.

So, if influence is just a result of how awesome you are at your job, the Vuelio Blog Awards 2018 will take place on 30 November at the Bloomsbury Big Top. Save the date.

The UK’s Top PR Blog, PR Examples, has a new owner

May 16, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight, PR Spotlight PR, Press and Bloggers, Media Database Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

PR Examples was created in 2011 by Rich Leigh, and will be familiar to the industry for listing the best examples of creative PR stunts, campaigns and events. It has also topped the Top 10 UK PR Blogs several times and was recently a finalist at the Vuelio Blog Awards 2017.

In January, Rich sold PR Examples to James Herring, who is the co-founder of top PR agency Taylor Herring. We caught up with James to talk about the agency, which you can read here, as well as Taylor Herring’s acquisition of the top blog in the UK. He told us about the blog’s rebrand, the problem with car and perfume ads and how he sees PR Examples evolving.

What drew you to PR Examples?
I’ve always been a fan of PR Examples, in fact a week or so before it went live, I launched a Tumblr site, called Stunt of the Day, which did kind of the same job. Rich Leigh, who has become a pal of mine, called me up and said, ‘You won’t believe it but I’m literally on the brink of launching PR Examples!’

We both had a keen, geeky, likeminded interest in collecting up great brand work and curating it somewhere. A place where anyone working in comms can dip in to see how different brands are using creativity to land a message or solve a client problem. Rich got in touch at the back end of last year and said, ‘I think it’s time for me to move on’ – his agency has been going from success to success – and for us it was a bit of a no brainer really.

Big credit to Rich for building the foundations of a resource that’s well-used by agencies and in-house teams.

How was the rebrand gone?
The rebrand seems to have gone down well; we modified the logo and some parts of the site – mostly we focused on making it fully responsive so it would work as well on mobile as it does on desktop.

We also paid some attention to the newsletter and had a growth spurt in the newsletter subscribers; we’re now approaching 7,000 which is encouraging. Plus, we have around 60,000 unique readers a month.

Not everyone in the industry is going to be interested in the type of content that’s on PR Examples, so if you work in City PR it’s probably not for you and if you work in Internal Comms you probably have other challenges. We know we’re not for everyone but it’s a fun project.

As an agency, we’ve always started the morning by saying, ‘Who’s seen something good?’ and in our morning paper review, we’ve always been spotting work, campaigns and ideas that might inspire and fuel what we do. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to turn that into a quick 200-word blog to share with our readers.

In terms of the content and contributors, have you changed anything?
Rich is still one of our contributors, though he hasn’t actually been very active of late so I need to name and shame him for that! There are three or four people at Taylor Herring who are regularly blogging at the moment. We change the team working on it from time to time, but we’re also talking to other agencies to get them involved as well: W Communications have put two people forward, as have Frank and Premier.

The end goal would be to have a regular team from a broad range of disciplines and sectors who were regularly contributing. Our next challenge is to index the work so people can easily find stuff. So, if you work in retail and you want to see what creative campaigns supermarkets have done of late, it would be easy for you to find them.

We came up with a groanworthy word for this the other day – a ‘Newseum’ of great creative campaigns.

Ultimately, the thing that makes the work that appears on PR Examples different to what you may see on other trade sites is that it has cut through into through the news cycle or generated good engagement on social.

So, it’s definitely not about beautiful car adverts, which – along with perfume ads – are the worst kind of advertising there is in my opinion.

Why?
OK this is a generalisation but there’s no innovation in car and perfume ads. They live in a weird, vapid, self-obsessed world that is of no interest to anyone but themselves.

We’re interested in campaigns that have cut through into the news cycle and have got people talking. We’re looking for something that’s different or surprising.

Have you got an example?
One of the Chinese National Parks put a shop halfway up a climbing wall on a mountain, which someone from the agency spotted in Metro and asked, ‘Do you think it’s a PR stunt?’ And it was! And, even better, no one had spotted it for that. The story had a mountain, rock climbers and a shed bolted to the cliff face where you can purchase bottle of water or energy bar. A lovely creative idea and that’s what the site’s about. Celebrating cool ideas.

With other agencies contributing, will you ever get to a point where you stop them writing about themselves, if it’s too advertorial?
I think people are generally self-aware on that kind of content. No one feels comfortable blowing their own trumpet. We’re interested in the inside story – how you came to the idea, the barriers and challenges. That’s what would make it different. We, at Taylor Herring, need to work out how we’re going to do that too. We have to resist the temptation to talk about ourselves too much but I think we’ve managed to tread the right side of the line so far.

We’d actively welcome agencies or in-house teams to write a first-person, inside track account of what the campaign was like to work on.

Is PR Examples driving business to Taylor Herring? Is it making money like your other site The Poke?
It’s not been built to drive business to Taylor Herring – in fact the link is hard to find. It’s buried at the bottom of the FAQ page. The discipline of scouring the internet every day to find creative work is very valuable to us and our daily work. Analysing and scrutinising those kind of projects gives you a good insight into what does and doesn’t work.

Our video production company, St Mark’s Studio, has become the temporary sponsor of the site because we’re hoping other agencies, in-house teams and brands might need some help creating low cost entertaining video content. Which is what St Marks is set up to do.

We originally took on PR Examples because we thought it might be a good fun thing to do and we are in the business of being fascinated by creative comms.

Currently St Mark’s is sitting in that sponsor slot. However, there are enough service providers in the industry that could potentially step up and help us meet the running costs. It would be nice to think our newsletter could have a sponsor and we could work with companies on native content editorial, things like that.

PR Examples, at this scale and with its number of page impressions, is quite easy to manage.

We decided we’re not going to try and monetise it for the first 12 months, we’re just trying to make it good.

If people like it, we might be more ambitious.

Final Word?
We are actively looking for new contributors – so interested parties should get in touch. They can blog as little or often as they want to.

A Spotlight with Top Wedding Blog, Love My Dress

May 16, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Merryn Williams

Love My Dress is written by Annabel Beeforth and was recently ranked in the top 10 UK Wedding blogs. Created after Annabel’s own wedding in 2009, Annabel not only helps couples create their own perfect day but also writes about the importance of love and the value of marriage.

We caught up with Annabel to talk about the success of her blog, the Royal wedding, using social media, working with brands and the wedding blogger industry.

What makes your blog successful?
I think it’s a few things, but broadly it’s our consistent approach to the story and not just the images. In a world that is so image driven, we have always understood the need to tell the story too and our readers are constantly feeding back how much they appreciate this. We have always taken pride with the sensitivity with which we handle every wedding we share. We’re incredibly privileged to have been allowed access into these intimate moments in people’s lives.

Secondly, closed Facebook groups have had a phenomenal impact on the relationship we have with our readers. We have a really close connection to our audience now – this connection has helped us develop trust so that when we need to gain feedback or survey the community, time and effort is given willingly. Without realising it initially, we were creating a community of Love My Dress ambassadors in establishing these groups. We absolutely love being able to dip in each day and catch up with our reader’s wedding plans.

Also, we’ve always shown absolute loyalty to the wedding industry. My husband is a graduate in fashion design and formerly had his own design business. It was back in 2000, when social media wasn’t a thing, and having been through that experience with him has, I believe, given me a deeper insight into the challenges faced by small design/artisan business owners. He has also taught me so much about craftsmanship, the quality of design etc.

We are constantly trying to innovate. We’ve just spent months recreating our wedding directory from scratch and believe that our resource will set a new precedent for directories of its kind.

There are a lot of market forces at play right now that are making it difficult for many businesses to find their groove and thrive in our industry – showing these businesses support when they most need it is absolutely vital. For example, the full impact of Brexit has yet to seen but it’s going to have a potentially enormous and damaging impact on many small businesses in our industry – boutiques, for example, relying on shipping in designs from overseas; the import taxes and duties could end up crippling their cashflow. I’m absolutely passionate about supporting our industry and the wealth of creative and entrepreneurial talent within and I think this passion shows through in Love My Dress.

Also, the efforts we are making to increase the diverse nature of our site content is becoming increasingly more important. It’s a timely comment given the imminent marriage of a member of the Royal family to someone who is mixed race, but inclusivity and representation of women/people of colour on sites like ours is SO important in 2018. It’s absolutely not acceptable to have to scroll and scroll the Instagram feed belonging to a site like ours to find a person of colour.

You would be surprised how many major wedding publications/sites/Instagram feeds have no representation of women or people of colour on their Instagram feeds at all. We are working really hard to make those who feel marginalised within the wedding media world feel more included. This doesn’t just extend to people of colour but people with disability and LGBQT community too.

What’s your favourite part of a wedding?
The ceremony always gets me. These are intimate moments in people’s lives and how they choose to use the ceremony to publicly commit their love to another both fascinates me and fills my heart.

What’s your favourite kind of wedding?
I generally avoid the term ‘theme’ like the plague when it comes to weddings! It just isn’t a word that aligns with the way we present weddings to our readers – feels all a bit too ‘fancy dress’.

My favourite weddings, however, are always the most honest ones – the ones where the couple tailored the day as a true reflection of themselves and who didn’t overlook the reason they were marrying in the first place. I love intimate family weddings – children running riot, joy and laughter captured on camera in natural, non-posed fashion. They are always my fav.

How many weddings have you been to?
Actually, not that many! The last one I attended was in 2012! It was that of a disabled bride who documented her wedding planning journey through Love My Dress. It was an absolute joy and pleasure to be there on the day to see her exchange her vows with her fiancé.

Has wedding planning changed with the rise of social media?
Social media is the perfect platform for those seeking wedding inspiration as it’s so visually driven, but it can be a bit of a double-edged sword. Having so many ideas so easily accessible on screen can be both wonderful and utterly overwhelming at the same time. In fact, I personally feel the whole scene is rather saturated.

Pinterest and more so, my fave, Instagram, have revolutionised the way couples are planning their wedding. Many couples are finding suppliers through Instagram which is why it’s so important we show love and support to our clients through this powerful social media platform.

How do you work with brands and PRs for your blog?
There are, in my view, a small handful of excellent wedding PRs in the UK and I think that on the whole, most of them now realise that sites like Love My Dress don’t work in the same way a traditional print outlet would – we can’t, or at least, we don’t, offer free editorial. We’ve worked really hard to build our social following and create a site that is read loyally and believe that is worth paying for. But when the PR gets it, it can be a marriage made in heaven. We’ve worked with some absolutely wonderful clients thanks to successful partnerships with some great PRs. On the whole, PRs have, in our experience, provided access to an artisan/independent part of the market that we take great pride in supporting – artisan jewellers and independent dress designers for example.

What are the best campaigns you’ve collaborated on?
Jenny Packham, Pronovias, Goldsmiths, Emmy London for H Samuel Jewellers.

What do PRs always get wrong?
I think these days there really isn’t room for the kind of mass, depersonalised mail out that will always inevitably get binned. I will always take time to read a tailored PR pitch and respond, even if it means the pitch was unsuccessful. If it looks like the PR has made an effort to get to know us and truly consider the brand match with their client, then I appreciate that. Emails that arrive with a ‘Hi!’ or ‘Hello,’ and no name are always a big turn off as it suggests no effort has been made to get to know us. Why should we take any time considering and responding if this is the case?

What do you call yourself (blogger/influencer/content creator etc)?
To be honest I’ve been trying to veer away from the terms ‘blog’ and ‘blogger’ for a couple of years now because I don’t believe they truly reflect what we do now. We were definitely blogging back in 2009/10, but these days, we’re editing our own online platforms, creating content, establishing brand partnerships and innovating as best we can as we continue to pave a path that has never been trodden before.

I more often than not refer to myself as Editor – but even then that doesn’t truly capture the full extent of my role. Though the term ‘influencer’ sometimes irks me, I will use that too because I think in today’s social media vocabulary, most people understand this represents a site or individual with a significant following in their niche, which we undoubtedly are.

What other blogs do you read?
The Pool (though sometimes it’s editorial approach to weddings and lack of support for the wedding industry leaves me feeling really unhappy), A Playful Day, Blogtacular and Me and Orla.

Annabel and Love My Dress are both listings on the Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other bloggers, vloggers, journalists, editors and opportunities.

Political Headlines – Brexit white paper, illegal customs plan, Carillion collapse and Windrush

May 16, 2018/0 Comments/in Political Headlines, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database Blog Posts /by Thomas Stevenson

Today’s Political Headlines include the promise of a Brexit white paper, a potentially ‘illegal’ customs plan, the Carillion collapse and the Windrush scandal.

Government promises ‘significant’ Brexit white paper
The BBC reports the Government has claimed a new white paper on Brexit to be published before the EU summit in June will be its most significant publication on the EU since 2016. David Davis has told colleagues that it will include ‘detailed, ambitious and precise explanations of our positions’.

Customs partnership plan might be illegal
The Times claims that David Davis has told Theresa May that her preferred plan for a customs partnership with the EU could be illegal under international trade law. The Attorney-General will provide an urgent legal opinion to the Prime Minister before the Cabinet makes its final decision and will also consider the alternative ‘max-fac’ proposal, which critics have claimed the WTO might also challenge.

Carillion collapse blamed on ‘rotten corporate culture’
The BBC says that a report has blamed the collapse of Carillion on a ‘rotten corporate culture’ for which its board is culpable. The report by the Commons Work and Pensions and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committees also calls for the break-up of the ‘big four’ audit firms.

63 wrongful removals linked to Windrush scandal
The Guardian reports that Home Secretary Sajid Javid told the Commons Home Affairs Committee yesterday that his department had identified 63 cases of wrongful removal connected to the Windrush scandal, and that this number could increase.

Scotland denies consent for EU (Withdrawal) Bill
As the Financial Times reports, yesterday the Scottish Parliament voted to deny consent for the Government’s EU (Withdrawal) Bill. Government compromises were enough to win support for the bill in the Welsh Assembly. The Government has made clear its intention to override Scottish objections.

Committee reports criticise Government energy policy
The BBC says that two committees have criticised the Government’s energy policies. The Commons Environmental Audit Committee found that investment in clean energy has dived, while the Commons Public Accounts Committee has found that policies to encourage clean heat have failed and often produce dirty heat.

Gove says that Conservatives need to find new economic arguments
The Daily Telegraph reports that Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove told a Centre for Policy Studies event that the Conservatives need to find new economic arguments to win over young people, rather than relying on Thatcher’s reforms and comparing Corbyn to Venezuela.

Johnson claims Iranian nuclear deal still ‘has value’
According to The Sun, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson claimed last night that the nuclear deal with Iran still ‘had value’, as he held crisis talks with European and Iranian counterparts in an attempt to save the agreement after the USA pulled out.

Find out more about the benefits of Vuelio political services.

Vodafone’s #SleepLikeAHero fights cancer

May 15, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, PR News Media Analysis, PR Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

A new campaign from the Vodafone Foundation is harnessing the power of people’s smartphones to make a supercomputer to fight cancer.

DreamLab is a new app that anyone can download onto their phone. Vodafone is working with Imperial College London and is encouraging people to leave the app open while they sleep. The app will become part of a virtual supercomputer, which will be able to process billions of calculations needed for cancer research.

One PC running 24 hours a day would need 300 years to process the data required; 100,000 smartphones running DreamLab six hours a night could do the job in three months.

This is based on the same technology that has been hitting headlines recently for blockchain currency – but seems to be the first time a collective supercomputer has been used (voluntarily) for a good cause.

#SleepLikeAHero was launched with Star Wars’ John Boyega, who gets the call from his agent to be a hero. Check out the campaign video below:

Join me in the fight against cancer…while you sleep! Proud to support DreamLab with @VodafoneUK @VodafoneFdn & @imperialcollege. Download the app today, #SleepLikeAHero tonight https://t.co/HG0M3QBRGf #ad pic.twitter.com/DOgy5cecPX

— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) May 14, 2018

Data will help Imperial College London match genetic profiles to cancer treatments, helping to find new combinations of existing drugs and ultimately enabling tailored treatments for patients. As a touch of genius, the data will be free for Vodafone customers – not eating in to their precious packages.

The campaign was created by Mischief PR and has already scored coverage across national print titles and online.

You can download the DreamLab app – and help fight cancer – on the Apple app store or the Android Play Store.

Breaking the news cycle: Taylor Herring’s James Herring

May 15, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, PR News, PR agency, PR Spotlight PR Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

James Herring and Cath Taylor founded Taylor Herring 17 years ago, and were joined shortly afterwards by Peter Mountstevens, who runs the agency alongside the co-founders. Taylor Herring has grown into one of the most well-known consumer PR companies in the UK, and is regularly recognised at leading industry award ceremonies.

Specialising in ‘breaking the news cycle’, Taylor Herring’s creative is often seen on the front page of newspapers and is likely to be filling up your news feed. In an exclusive interview, we spoke to James about the agency, his recent purchase of top PR blog PR Examples and his secret to award success.

How did the agency start?
We started by mainly representing media and entertainment clients. It was back in the days of digital TV, so there were digital channels launching weekly, which were all stuffed with ‘acquired programming’, effectively repeats from mainstream broadcasters. There were also video games companies and music brands, and they were all interested in us for the same reason – they wanted stories that could break the news cycle, rather than stories that just sat in the TV pages or showbiz pages. So, from the beginning, Taylor Herring embarked on a journey of creative news generation to produce disruptive campaign ideas that would get people talking.

As a result of that process, I’m really proud of the work that we have delivered for UKTV and their channels – we work incredibly collaboratively with their in-house team.

For the first five or six years, we were very TV focused. We launched some pretty famous shows like Big Brother and the Apprentice, and worked on shows like The Inbetweeners and Doctor Who.

What surprised us was that these entertainment campaigns led to a lot of consumer and FMCG brands come knocking offering work!

We still do a lot of TV and entertainment work – in the last 12 months we’ve worked on Star Wars, Game of Thrones and we still work on The Apprentice – but we now have an burgeoning client list from the Consumer brands sector, from all walks of life, including easyJet, Samsung, Pimms and Greggs. We have a very diverse client list.

So, it’s your style of PR they’re after rather than the sector?
That’s correct. A typical client would have a switched-on in-house press team that knows their sector backwards. Where we come in is to get that story moving further up the paper, to the home page, or into people’s social timelines. We work hand in hand with those in-house teams, trying to build a campaign that’s colourful, engaging and impactful. More often than not, great content is at the heart of the work – to help the brand really stand out. Video, pictures or an event element – whatever does the job best. It’s all about getting attention and standing out from the crowd.

I guess we’re attention seekers – professional attention seekers.

In terms of the agency set up – how many people do you have and what do they do?
There are about 20 full time staff, which I think might surprise people. We have an incredible freelance production team of regulars which probably takes our squad up to 30.

Without doubt the nature of what we do has changed dramatically, and video has been a big driver for growth for us. In 2017 we made about 65 films for clients, so in January this year, we launched a new production company called St Mark’s Studios. The idea of St Mark’s Studios is to create short form, engaging video content for social newsfeeds. It’s stuff that the big national online news sites should be delighted to have because it’s great content. It is delicately branded, not too self-serving and editorially crafted. It’s also content that can be used on clients’ own channels as well.

We are now very much open to working with other PR agencies – shooting video content for them in a white label fashion.

I suppose this is a new phenomenon – it wouldn’t have been possible up until recently because there wouldn’t have been the demand for it?
Absolutely right – particularly because so many publishers are dependent on the likes of Facebook to power their traffic. Last year there was a gold rush among the bigger newspaper publishers to get into Facebook, when it announced the algorithm would positively prioritise video content. It meant that the more native video content you put on your page, the more reach you got and your other content was more likely to get through.

We used this for our most recent piece of activity for Game of Thrones and Sky Atlantic, where we put White Walkers on the street on the day of launch. We made a 60-second video that captured that experience, subtitled it and made sure it wasn’t too heavy on the branding. In total, I think we had about 25 million views across all publisher platforms – and part of the reason it worked so well was they didn’t need to edit our content at all.

We’ve all heard these stories about certain online sweatshops where poor journalists are banging out nine or 10 stories a day. These poor people don’t have time to pick through a 700-800 word press release so we’re trying to make that easy for them. Journalists are busy and not very generous with the amount of detail that clients would like to see in their stories. The beauty of video is you can bring a richness to the story that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

And you get to control it in its entirety?
Exactly right. There are a gazillion metrics we now have as we try to work out what the formula for proper measurement for this stuff is, but there is one simple measurement of success: getting a completely branded piece of video content into a newspaper’s media player or natively on their social channel. It’s incredible the amount of branding and detailed messaging that are delivered in video, which is why we’ve invested in it. You can’t put a price on the value of that.

Are you bypassing the ‘middle man’ journalist?
Yes, sometimes we are. But not in all cases. You often find the person who is in charge of selecting what native video content goes onto a newspaper’s Facebook page is actually much easier to reach than trying to sell a story through the news desk. If video content performs well there, they will often write that up as a story too, embedding the video in their player.

We can go to the publisher’s social media team, who are in the business of marketing their brand, and say: ‘Tomorrow, we are going to be announcing that we’re doing this incredible thing in London – here’s all the footage, feel free to add your own headings and captions’ – we’re helping them do their job and it’s really that simple.

‘Will people share this’ is probably the question you’ll hear people ask at Taylor Herring more than any other because it’s the same question you’re going to hear the news editor at the Mail Online ask when he receives our press release and pictures.

To that end, we became fascinated with becoming publishers ourselves.

What do you publish?
About seven years ago, we launched The Poke, which has always targeted the bored-at-work market. If you haven’t seen it, we track the trending stories of the day and what we’re really interested in is what the internet has to say about them. So, what have the good people of Twitter got to say about Eurovision? What’s the chatter on Reddit about that movie release?

We’ve grown so it now has a pretty big audience! It’s fair to say it does bounce up and down but in some months we’ve had six million unique users reading our content, 70% from the UK. I think, like other publishers, we’ve benefitted from the Trump Bump quite a lot. We live in a world where for the first time in my living memory, politics is more interesting than show business. It’s incredible, if not terrifying, entertainment on a daily basis.

I think by doing the Poke and understanding how to get content out there via social channels, we have become better at making content for our cleints. So how a post is titled, how it’s optimised for Facebook and what the picture is – without a decent picture and an intriguing headline, stories struggle on Facebook and Twitter.

The Poke was a bit of a hobby for me and Jasper (Jasper Gibson is co-founder) but we now have a news editor, John Plunkett, of Media-pages-of-the-Guardian fame, and we have a network of freelancers who are contributing. It’s a great, fun little hobby that ticks along in the sidelines and pays its way.

So, when the opportunity to acquire PR Examples came along, it felt like a logical step.

Read more about Taylor Herring’s acquisition of PR Examples in the next part of our interview, coming soon!

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Want to take part in a spotlight? Get in touch with Jake O’Neill.

Political Headlines – Rees-Mogg, Labour’s Brexit and the Home Office

May 15, 2018/0 Comments/in Political Headlines, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database Blog Posts /by Thomas Stevenson

Today’s Political Headlines include May’s confrontation with Rees-Mogg, Corbyn ruling out a Norway-style Brexit, MSPs to vote against Brexit and the Home Office accused of shambolic incompetence.

May confronts Rees-Mogg at customs meeting
The Times claims that Theresa May ‘confronted’ Jacob Rees-Mogg at a meeting about customs after Brexit. The Prime Minister was meeting backbench Conservative MPs to outline the options for customs post-Brexit when the clash happened, with one Conservative MP saying that May ‘slapped him down very hard’. The Daily Telegraph claims that May admitted to MPs that negotiations have reached an ‘impasse’ as neither of her customs plans will work, increasing Eurosceptics’ fears that the transition period will be extended. As the BBC reports, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has warned that Brexit talks have made ‘little’ progress since March.

Corbyn rules out Norway-style Brexit
The Guardian says that Jeremy Corbyn has told Labour MPs that the party cannot consider a Norway-style Brexit, which would leave the UK as a ‘rule taker’. John Mann, who warned that Labour would lose seats such in his Bassetlaw constituency if it ‘watered down’ its Brexit position, said that the strength of feeling from other Labour MPs had killed off the EEA option. However, The Sun claims that Shadow International Development Minister Preet Gill has ‘risked the sack’ by calling for a ‘people’s vote’ on the final deal.

MSPs set to vote against EU (Withdrawal) Bill
The BBC reports that MSPs are set to formally refuse to give the Scottish Parliament’s consent to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill. The SNP are expected to be backed by Labour, Green and Lib Dem MSPs in the vote against the bill. The UK and Scottish Governments have been unable to reach an agreement over devolved powers after Brexit.

Home Office accused of ‘shambolic incompetence’
The Guardian claims that the Home Office has been accused of ‘shambolic incompetence’ after letter written by Caroline Noakes, the immigration minister, appeared to contradict what she told the Commons Home Affairs Committee about when she became aware of problems faced by highly skilled migrants. She claimed that the issue had been flagged up ‘two working days’ ago, but the letters suggest she was aware of the problem in February.

UK could withhold security clearance for firms working on Galileo
According to the Financial Times, the UK Space Agency has written to 13 British companies working on the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system, warning them that the Government could withhold their security clearance to work on the project. The letter described the move as ‘a necessary consequence of the position taken by the European Union’.

Leaked letter shows incentive for benefit assessors to squeeze in more sessions
The Daily Mirror reports on a leaked letter which shows that disability benefit assessors employed by Atos have been given £50 rewards for fitting extra sessions into their day, which MPs fear could lead to tests being hurried and poor quality. Frank Field, Chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, had written to the firm, asking it for more details.

Lords vote to start second part of Leveson inquiry
The Daily Telegraph reports that peers have voted to order the start of the second part of the Leveson inquiry of press standards, defying a vote by MPs last week. As a result, MPs will have another chance to vote on the issue, which the paper claims may be as soon as next Tuesday.

East Coast rail franchise to be terminated ‘in days’
The Financial Times reports that the Government will terminate Virgin and Stagecoach’s contract to operate the East Coast rail franchise ‘in days’, following heavy losses. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has the option of temporarily nationalising the line, or negotiating a not-for-profit management agreement with the existing operator.

Find out how Vuelio political services can benefit you.

AI and ethics

May 14, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, social media marketing, PR Press and Bloggers, Media Analysis, PR Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Artificial technology has been in the news recently, for all the wrong reasons. Google naively showed off the functionality of its new Duplex AI, while NtechLab has announced a new product to identify ethnicities (unfortunately not a joke).

Google Duplex
Google Duplex is a new AI assistant that can handle tasks over the phone. That’s right, Duplex is able to make phone calls and book appointments on your behalf. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, showed the assistant off at its I/O developer conference, including a recorded example of Duplex calling to book a haircut:

In the clip, Duplex is shown to be indistinguishable from a human on the phone. The crowd, unsurprisingly, loved it – even whooping when the AI sounds most human saying ‘Mmm-hmm’ to acknowledge a point made by the hairdresser. It’s not surprising, this is Google’s I/O developer conference – for these people, super advanced AI is a great achievement.

Unfortunately for Google, a number of people and news outlets have now raised concerns over not being able to tell the difference between people and computers.

What Google failed to mention is that the AI would identify itself, so the person on the other end of the phone would know it was chatting to a robot – but even that throws up questions and concerns.

What if the AI doesn’t understand a question it’s asked, or an accent? How many times is a vendor likely to repeat themselves or reword queries if they know they’re talking to a machine? And what does it say about society that people are now getting machines to book haircuts on their behalf?

Google suggests it can be used by businesses to automatically take bookings, though how many people want to call up to book a table at a restaurant and be handled by a machine?

There’s also concerns over the data Duplex gathers on individuals – for this to work you have to tell Google an awful lot about what you want booked, when, when you’re free, alternative times for the appointment, the details of what you’re booking and why. Under the GDPR, if this data is processed by Google then you have to be informed – imagine the conversation with your AI assistant if they have to explain all the ways the data will be used!

Recognising ethnicity

The other ethical AI story is even more concerning. Russian NtechLab is a group of experts in the field of deep learning and artificial intelligence; the website states they ‘like to invent algorithms which work in unconstrained real-life scenarios’. The only listed product so far is a facial recognition tool.

It’s the ‘coming soon’ section that raises concern, with a product called ‘ethnicity recognition’. There’s no further information, but the image suggests it will identify people’s ‘ethnicities’ based on their faces. It’s not clear why this would EVER be needed, nor how it could ever be accurate.

As Forbes points out, it’s amazing that these companies are able to create such tools, without seeing the ethical issues that are more obvious to those that don’t work in tech. Socialogist Zeynep Tufekci said: ‘Silicon Valley is ethically lost, rudderless and has not learned a thing’.

Artificial intelligence is not bad, it makes all of our lives easier every day and, as the CIPR’s ongoing #AIinPR study shows, it’s of great benefit to the PR and communications industry. When developing AI functionality, companies need to consider their responsibilities towards data subjects and clients. The GDPR comes into force on 25 May and the automation of data, for the benefit of AI, will be under more scrutiny than ever before. It’s hard to see how an ethnicity recognition tool will pass the new stringent regulation requirements.

As for Google, the whole company is built on AI and for the most part, people are not concerned. Where Duplex has fallen down is by being too real. We’re not in Blade Runner* – society just isn’t ready for a world where it’s impossible to distinguish between computers and people, fiction and reality. At least, not yet.

*Insert your own favourite popular 80s’ sci-fi film here.

Politics on Sunday – Brexit and Tessa Jowell

May 14, 2018/0 Comments/in Politics on Sunday, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Canvas Blog Posts /by Daniel Loman

The Sunday political shows were dominated by two topics: the death of Tessa Jowell and Brexit.

Environment Secretary, Michael Gove was the most high-profile guest across the shows and he provided the biggest talking point by saying Theresa May’s post-Brexit customs plan has flaws.

The plan the Prime Minister is proposing would mean the UK has the same tariff on goods as the EU, but business will be able to claim back the difference if the rates in Britain are lower. Nick Robinson (standing in for Marr) asked Gove whether he agreed with Boris Johnson’s assessment that the arrangement proposed is crazy.

Gove said no model exists like the one being proposed and this immediately raises questions. Gove wants the Government to ‘crack on’ with finding solutions to these problems. Robinson asked Gove whether it was a possibility the transition period could be extended past December 2020; he answered, ‘I don’t believe in an extension’. He was also asked whether he thought the Brexit process was a shambles – unsurprisingly he replied it is not.

Arch-remainer Nicky Morgan appeared on Peston and she was not complimentary to either of the deals proposed. Morgan told Peston more information is needed on the matter but that the maximum facilitation deal relies on technology which does not yet exist and causes problems around Ireland. Morgan offered some hope to Theresa May by saying the Prime Minister could still offer a trade deal that would be accepted by the vast majority of the House of Commons if she stopped trying to appeal to the Brexiteers.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, Simon Coveney also appeared on Marr. Coveney wants the UK Government to come to an agreement on the customs policy so progress can be made on the border. Coveney made it clear that the Irish Government is not flexible on the matter of physical infrastructure on the Irish border. Coveney also said he is taking his lead from Theresa May and not any other member of the Cabinet. He had another warning for the UK Government by saying the Brexit negotiations would face a ‘difficult summer’ if the Government did not stick to its commitments.

Shadow Brexit Secretary, Keir Starmer said the option of a Norway-style deal for the UK would not work for the UK, the reason being Norway has physical infrastructure on its border with Sweden and this is not an option when it comes to the Irish border. Rebecca Long-Bailey also represented Labour on Peston and said no decision has been made on how to vote on a Lords amendment that would see the UK join the European Economic Area and stay in the single market. Long-Bailey said Labour wants to retain the benefits of the single market but through a bespoke deal.

There were many tributes to former Cabinet Minister, Tessa Jowell, who passed away. Alastair Campbell said she was the best in politics and the best in humanity. John Whittingdale paid tribute to her nonpartisan nature saying she wanted things to get done. On Marr, a clip was played of an interview Robinson had conducted with Jowell and it focused on the remarks ‘I am not afraid’ when speaking about the cancer she was ill with.

Check out our Canvas of all the best coverage from the Sunday Political shows here and find out how to make your own Canvas here.

4 Instagram lessons from the Conservatives

May 14, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, PR Club PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Last week it was revealed that Conservative MPs had been briefed on their use of Instagram. A comprehensive presentation covers everything from downloading the app to specific dos and don’ts, but what can this guide teach the PR industry?

Published by the BBC, the guide is obviously quite simple in places (MP friendly) but there are key lessons that are always worth reminding ourselves of. Not only does Instagram have a ‘younger audience’, an obvious attraction for the Conservatives, but it also gives a chance to show ‘you are a real person who people can relate to or be inspired by’.

1. Context
One such ‘real person’ is defence secretary Gavin Williamson (of ‘Russia should go away, it should shut up’ fame), who was an early adopter of Instagram. He appears twice under the section ‘Good examples: people’ section, showing both ‘to-camera smiling shots’ and ‘context seen in the photos’ at an event.

Context is vital for any photo posts and the more that can be squeezed into the picture, the less work your caption has to do. Captions are much less likely to be seen let alone read, so for Instagram, the picture MUST paint a thousand words. Bear that in mind when creating a post, you may understand what event you’re at because you’re there, but if it isn’t obvious in the picture, the post won’t succeed.

2. Be playful
Another ‘Good examples’ section but this time for objects. The presentation uses Sam Gyimah’s Christmas post as an example of how to create ‘unique content’ that’s ‘playful’:

Christmas red box just arrived. Not quite what I asked Santa for #christmastime #christmas #christmasholidays #instagood #insta

A post shared by Sam Gyimah (@samgyimahmp) on Dec 22, 2017 at 10:45am PST

Instagram is a young platform and it’s a social platform. Being serious or formal is not really social’s style (with the exception of, perhaps, LinkedIn), so users should try to see the lighter side of life and have fun when creating posts. This is particularly relevant for corporate accounts or senior execs; if they want to appeal to the board or their investors, then social – and especially Instagram – probably isn’t the place.

Another way to be ‘playful’ according to the presentation, is making use of emojis and stickers. It highlights a post from Sir Peter Bottomley, who used the #TBT (throwback Thursday) sticker on an historical picture of him campaigning with Margaret Thatcher.

It may feel unnatural to used such ‘playful’ items in your communications but remember this is about appealing to the Instagram audience. If you want to make friends in a Missouri truck stop, you probably wouldn’t go in dressed like, or talking like, Jacob Rees-Mogg. Instagram is the same – if you want to reach people on Instagram, be more like people on Instagram.

3. Engage
According to the presentation, ‘High engagement = higher chance of attracting more followers’, which is true. It then gives specific examples of engaging, including: reply to comments, like comments, tag people in the text and include your location.

This is basic advice but it’s true. If you want to organically grow your following on Instagram, then comment on other people’s posts, like posts, follow other people, post regularly, engage with people that comment on your posts and generally be an active member of the Instagram community. It takes a lot of work and time, but being big on Instagram can make that work pay off.

4. Don’t post press releases
Instagram is not your newsroom, so it’s not a place for lengthy prose or adverts. The presentation highlights the types of posts that should be used sparingly, including James Cleverly’s quote when appointed deputy chairman of the Conservative Party:

I’m delighted to have been appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party

A post shared by jamescleverly (@jamescleverly) on Jan 10, 2018 at 3:44am PST

As the BBC points out, Cleverly seems to have heeded the advice and now his posts are more informal.

A beautifully designed advert or company quote next to a portrait of your exec may look good in magazines or on your website, but once again it’s about context (think about Jacob Rees-Mogg at the truck stop).

Instagram is a place for beautiful photos of people, places and objects. It’s not a place for text-filled images or obvious graphic design.

Be you
The Conservative advice may be simple but it’s good. If you want to succeed on Instagram, be personable, be real and be you. Or, don’t be on Instagram.

Political Headlines – Tessa Jowell, customs plans, MI5 and Russia

May 14, 2018/0 Comments/in Political Headlines, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database Blog Posts /by Thomas Stevenson

Today’s Political Headlines include tributes to Tessa Jowell, doubts around May’s customs plans, MI5 chief condemning Russia and a new Windrush-style scandal.

Politicians pay tribute to Tessa Jowell
The Guardian reports that politicians from across the political spectrum have paid tribute to Tessa Jowell following the announcement of her death yesterday. The Government has announced it will double its investment in brain cancer research to £40m and introduce a new test for brain cancer in all NHS hospitals, an issue Jowell focused on in the last months of her life, and spoke about to the BBC.

Gove casts doubts on May’s customs plans
Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove, cast doubt on Theresa May’s proposed post-Brexit customs partnership, which he said had ‘flaws’ and had questions about its ‘deliverability’. Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer told the programme that a customs union was the only solution. The Daily Mirror reports that David Miliband will share a platform with Nicky Morgan and Nick Clegg today, calling on MPs to vote down the Brexit deal if it is not good enough.

Head of MI5 to condemn Russia in speech today
The Times says that the head of MI5 is to deliver ‘Britain’s strongest condemnation yet of Russia’. Addressing European security chiefs in Berlin today, Andrew Parker, Director-General of the Security Service, will criticise the country for its ‘flagrant breaches’ of international law, blame it for the Salisbury poisonings and condemn its disinformation campaign. He will also call for a continued UK-Europe security partnership after Brexit.

Khan warns of new Windrush-style scandal
The Guardian reports that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has warned that the Government may face another Windrush-style scandal, with children and teenagers born in the UK being left without access to education or employment owing to a £1,000 fee to gain citizenship. Khan has commissioned research to understand the scale of the problem and called for the Government to streamline the application process and waive the fees.

Erdogan calls UK a ‘valuable and reliable’ ally
The Times reports that President Erdogan of Turkey has called the UK a ‘valuable and reliable’ ally. He is in London for one of just two foreign visits while he campaigns for elections next month, and has promised to ‘co-operate more with the UK post-Brexit in every field’. He will meet the Queen, speak at Chatham House and meet investors.

Carillion used small suppliers to prop it up, MPs say
The Financial Times says that MPs investigating Carillion’s collapse have revealed new evidence showing that the firm used suppliers to ‘prop up its failing business model’. The final report is due to be published on Wednesday by the House of Commons Work and Pensions and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committees.

Lords warned off attempts to resurrect Leveson
According to The Daily Telegraph, MPs have warned that attempts by the House of Lords to resurrect a second Leveson inquiry would breach the constitution and intensify calls for reform. Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed that efforts by the Lords to salvage the inquiry would breach a convention which stops peers from ‘wrecking’ Government legislation.

Gyimah calls for the UK to rediscover its ‘spark of genius’
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Universities and Science Minister Sam Gyimah has called for the UK to rediscover its ‘spark of genius’ and become a ‘science and technology superpower’. Today he, together with Business Secretary Greg Clark, will launch UK Research and Innovation, the new funding agency.

Learn more about Vuelio political services

Five Things: Leveson II, Klout, This is America, Martin Sorrell and #FuturePRoof

May 11, 2018/0 Comments/in Five Things, PR Pulse, social media marketing, PR, PR News Media Database, Media Analysis, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

This week’s Five Things includes the demise of Leveson II and Klout, Childish Gambino’s This is America, the return of Sorrell and the launch #FuturePRoof.

1. Leveson II – the sequel that refuses to start

Leveson II, the second part of the Leveson Inquiry, was already stopped by culture secretary Matt Hancock (“Are you on Matt Hancock?”), at the beginning of March. Now the Government has won a narrow victory against a Labour move to force it to start. Ed Miliband tabled the amendment to the Government’s data protection bill but it was narrowly defeated by 304 votes to 295.

Ed Miliband’s impassioned speech highlighted David Cameron’s previous promise for Leveson II to be carried out. Refusing to give way to other MPs, he also said it was a matter of honour for all politicians and asked the Government, ‘How dare you?’. Hancock responded: ‘The choice isn’t between doing something, and nothing. It is between doing something, and something better.’

Following the defeat, Tom Watson chose not to push for a vote on section 40, which in part would have required publishers to pay legal costs of both parties in disputes no matter what the outcome. This is clearly flawed as both Leveson-backed IMPRESS and press-made IPSO already allow for low-cost resolution.

There’s already suggestions the Lords will push the amendment back to the Commons for a second vote as the first was so close. We might not have seen the last of Leveson yet.

2. Out of Klout

What’s your Klout?* Is a question that many people working in social media asked each other seven years ago, but recently your Klout score has gone the way of your follower count on Google Plus. One of the most popular ways of measuring influence online, Klout was founded in 2009 by Joe Fernandez, who apparently built it to get a job at Twitter. It was bought by a private company, Lithium, in 2014 for $200m and on 25 May it will be no more.

25 May, I hear you say, isn’t that date significant for another reason? Why, yes. But amazingly, Lithium failed to mention the GDPR as a factor in Klout’s demise in the official statement. Apparently, Klout no longer meets Lithium’s long-term strategy.

Incidentally, Klout has been used as one of the many metrics that makes up the Vuelio Influencer Score, but thankfully we use such a broad range of complex tools that the loss of Klout will not have a detrimental effect on our unique measurement. You can read more about our influencer rating here.

Klout, on its own, has been criticised over the years for its algorithm which has, on occasion, rewarded questionable people with more influence than others. The secrets of the algorithm may have been forced into the open by the GDPR, but now we’ll never know.

3. This is America

It’s hard to know where to begin with Childish Gambino’s (aka Donald Glover) latest release, This is America. To call it a song is insufficient; the music and lyrics are powerful but that power pales into insignificance when compared to the video:

Articles and essays have already been written on this overnight cultural phenomenon (it’s on 75 million views in under a week). Discussions about the video’s ‘hidden meanings’, from his confederate trousers and Jim Crow references to the Charleston church shooting and ‘Death’ riding a pale horse, have filled social media and the digital press. It’s particularly pertinent following Kanye West’s recent comments that slavery was ‘a choice’.

It also follows Black Panther, which itself was itself a cultural shift but in a Hollywood/Marvel superhero kind of way. What Childish Gambino has done means so much more. It’s a violent, compelling piece of art, that continues to produce meaning with every watch, and it will fuel sections of the commentariat for weeks to come.

4. Martin Sorrell to ‘start again’

If only Klout would stick around, we’d be able to measure Sir Martin Sorrell’s when he ‘starts again’. That’s his vow this week, after abruptly leaving WPP. As reported by the FT, Sorrell was speaking at the technology conference in New York and said: ‘I’m not going into voluntary or involuntary retirement.’

As he never had a non-compete clause with WPP, Sorrell is free to set up a competitive ad company and target some of the $16bn business he helped build up over the last 33 years. He already has an idea for a new ad agency model, he said it would be: ‘more agile, more responsive, less layered, less bureaucratic, less heavy’. This is particularly surprising considering WPP’s hugely complex set up has been credited to Sorrell, and he was described as the only person capable of keeping it all together.

Sorrell said he would not wait long until he made his next move, so expect the new agency launch to appear in a future Five Things.

5. #FuturePRoof 3

Sarah Hall, agency owner and CIPR President, has released the third edition of her hugely popular #FuturePRoof series this week, a special edition marking the 70th anniversary of the NHS. Titled The NHS at 70 with Lessons for the Wider PR Community, the book features 25 chapters from 25 contributors, all of whom either work in or around comms at the NHS.

The health service is one of the UK’s most-loved institutions but is currently facing huge problems in terms of service delivery, funding and staff shortages. The book puts communications at the heart of the solution, championing best practice and excellent innovations to inspire the NHS to carry on fighting the good fight.

#FuturePRoof is also hugely inspirational to the wider communications industry with lessons across every communications discipline from internal comms and employee engagement to using new technology and measuring campaign results.

Find out more about #FuturePRoof online.

What did we miss? Let us know on Twitter @Vuelio.

*Me? My Klout score is 46 and I’m an expert in Blogging, Public Relations and Communications. And Buzzfeed, apparently.

#FuturePRoof: a journalist’s perspective of NHS comms

May 11, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, journalism, PR PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Following the launch of the third edition of #FuturePRoof, a special edition focusing on healthcare comms to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS, we are discussing what wider lessons can be learned by the comms industry. In this post, we look at Denis Campbell’s contribution – A Journalist’s Perspective: The Good and Bad of NHS Comms.

Denis Campbell is the health policy editor of the Guardian and the Observer, so he spends a lot of his time writing about the NHS and working with the comms professionals within it. Campbell starts his chapter by pointing out the dilemma of writing such a piece in his position: ‘Why would I say anything at all, lest even a smidgeon of criticism alienates those whose goodwill, determination and professionalism I routinely rely upon?’

He goes on to explain that while most comms officers are ‘superb’, some are ‘unhelpful, unbecoming of their profession and… ultimately damaging to the NHS’. The chapter is important to #FuturePRoof because it’s an honest external opinion given for all the right reasons – to help improve the practices of the NHS.

Campbell breaks down his views, which are clearly lessons for anyone working in communications in any industry:

Be honest and accessible
For Campbell, the NHS needs to be honest about its troubles and not just follow ‘the Government’s fantasy version of events’. This is a broader lesson for comms – honesty builds trust and trust builds relationships, which is the foundation of good PR. When working with the media, if you lie, there’s a good chance they’ll find out the truth and that story will then be much harder to manage.

Campbell’s experience of NHS comms is clearly hit and miss. He writes: ‘I marvel at the effort senior managers and clever PRs put into coming up with entirely irrelevant answers. Do they think that will stop the story appearing?’

If a journalist is asking for information, chances are they have discovered there may be a story in that information. If you block them, it doesn’t mean the story goes away, it just means the journalist has to dig deeper. When presented with tricky media questions, finding out what the journalist is doing and why they want to know certain things, should be a priority, because you’re still allowed to form your answers in the most appropriate way to make your business look as good as it can in the circumstance.

But even if the journalist gives you nothing, don’t stonewall investigations; if it’s delaying the inevitable, be honest and make it part of the story you want to tell.

Have guiding principles
The NHS Constitution has seven principles that guide the NHS in all it does. Campbell is most interested in the last one: ‘The NHS is accountable to the public, communities and patients that it serves… The system of responsibility and accountability for taking decisions in the NHS should be transparent and clear to the public, patients and staff.’

He believes NHS PR practitioners should be bound by this principle – but what about organisations without principles? Many have cultures, objectives and aims – lots of offices display these proudly for all to see. But do we consider them when we’re doing comms? Comms is the voice of the company and should be key in developing company culture, ensuring it informs the way all communications is carried out.

If internal culture doesn’t match external culture, neither will survive for long and ultimately, you’re the bridge between the two.

Working together
Campbell is clearly in favour of the NHS and is keen to see it working in the best way it possibly can. But as PRs and comms, we often think of journalists as the enemy and we suspect they’re out to trip us up. Campbell acknowledges this but is reassuring: ‘NHS PRs’ background and talents lie in communicating. So why not spend more time and put more creative energy into communicating what their bit of the NHS does and who the staff are that make that possible?

‘Why not trust journalists much more to do a decent job and not be so suspicious all the time?’

If we all worked together, were honest and transparent, wouldn’t our industry be a better place, communications run more smoothly and improve the quality of public conversation for all parties?

What do you think about Campbell’s chapter? Can we do more to work together with the media, or do we risk losing control of the story? Let us know your thoughts on Twitter @Vuelio.

#FuturePRoof: The NHS at 70 with Lessons for the Wider PR Community, is highly recommended for both NHS comms pros and anyone else working in comms. It is available online.

Political Headlines – grammar school, Brexit, Ministry of Defence and Leave.EU’s breach of election law

May 11, 2018/0 Comments/in Political Headlines, Government, Public Affairs Political Services, Political Database Blog Posts /by Thomas Stevenson

Today’s Political Headlines include grammar school expansion, May’s two Brexit groups, Ministry of Defence spending plans and Leave.EU’s breach of election law.

Government announces funding for grammar school expansion
The Daily Telegraph reports that Damian Hinds, the Education Secretary, will announce today a £50m Selective Schools Expansion Fund, allowing grammar schools to create up to 16,000 extra places over the next four years. He told the paper that grammar schools will be allowed to set lower pass marks in their entrance exams for disadvantaged children and that he was making money available to create new Voluntary Aided faith schools.

May divides Brexit sub-committee into two customs working groups
The Times reports that Theresa May has divided her Brexit cabinet sub-committee into two groups: one working on her favoured customs partnership plans, and one working on the ‘max-fac’ plan favoured by Brexiteers. The Financial Times adds that the Prime Minister has postponed Brexit legislation over fears that she could be defeated and does not expect a breakthrough on customs and border issues next week. The Guardian says that Labour backbenchers are keeping up their fight for Jeremy Corbyn to reconsider his opposition to EEA membership, as new polling shows majority support for a vote on the deal.

Ministry of Defence spending plans criticised by MPs
The BBC says that the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has criticised the Ministry of Defence’s spending plans for being unrealistic, warning that they could be more than £20bn over budget. The Ministry of Defence claimed that MPs were highlighting an ‘unlikely worst-case scenario’. According to the Financial Times, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is to call for foreign companies to be blocked from a £1bn Royal Navy contract, which the paper warns ‘could push up costs for the stretched Ministry of Defence’.

Leave.EU fined for breaching election law
The BBC reports that Leave.EU has been fined £70,000 for breaching election law during the referendum on EU membership. The group failed to report at least £77,380 it spent and a senior figure has been referred to the police. Co-founder Arron Banks has claimed that this is a ‘politically motivated attack’.

Blair called on to apologise for rendition of dissident to Libya
The Times says that Tony Blair is being called on to apologise for the rendition to Libya of Abdul Hakim Belhaj, an opponent of the Gaddafi regime, and Fatima Boudchar, his pregnant wife, in 2014. Yesterday, Theresa May formally apologised to the couple as part of an out-of-court settlement.

MPs to debate votes at 16
The Daily Mail reports that MPs will debate a bill put forward by Labour MP Peter Kyle this morning, which would lower the voting age to 16 and put a polling station in every school. The paper reports that a growing number of Conservative MPs support the measure, with British Youth Council figures showing it has the backing of at least 314 out of 650 MPs.

Hunt and Hammond arguing about NHS budget increase
According to The Guardian, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Chancellor Philip Hammond are in dispute over a funding increase for the NHS. Hunt wants the NHS budget to grow by at least £5.2bn a year but Hammond favours an increase of around £3.25bn. The Prime Minister is expected to announce an increase around 7 July, the NHS’s 70th birthday.

Prime Minister ‘blasted’ by Grenfell families
The Daily Mirror says that families of those who died in the fire at Grenfell Tower have ‘blasted’ the Prime Minister following a meeting. The relatives want new members to be added to the panel leading the public inquiry, with a petition on the topic to be debated by MPs on Monday. However, Theresa May refused to commit herself either way in the meeting.

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