Phorm have got a bit of an image problem. That is one thing that everyone can agree on. So what do they do about it? They hire a Patrick Robertson…
Hmm. This couldn’t be the same Patrick Robertson who first came to prominence in 1995 as the technologically-challenged spin doctor of arms dealing perjurer Jonathan Aitken MP, could it? That Patrick Robertson had a little trouble operating his fax machine, and his collywobbles about his boss’ political prospects found their way into the papers.
Could be…
And this couldn’t be the same Patrick Robertson who went on to run the PR operation for right wing billionaire Sir James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party, could it? The party contested the 1997 general election on a single issue platform of crazed warnings of an imminent “federal European super-state”.
Possibly…
And this couldn’t be the same “PR guru” Patrick Robertson who orchestrated the £200,000 campaign by Tory grandees against the extradition of ex-Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet, could it?
In 1998 a Spanish judge asked Britain to send Pinochet over for a chat about the thousands of dissidents who were “disappeared” under his bloody rule. This didn’t go down well with Thatcher-era Tories, who viewed him as a fellow free marketeer, and were grateful for his support of the war in the Falklands, which saved their collective skin in the 1983 general election.
Among those prominent Pinochet-defenders? Give us a wave, Phorm chairman Norman Lamont
Well…
Unbelievably, yes it can.
Leave a Reply