Abstract
This chapter goes beneath the surface of government media relations to examine the deeper and more far-reaching consequences of the struggle for public opinion, political engagement and the democratic process, drawing on the traditionally muted voices of officials. In interviews and enquiries, civil servants recall how attacks on the government communications leadership after the 1997 and 2010 elections made those who remained more vulnerable and less able to resist unreasonable or improper ministerial demands. Resistance has come to light through witness accounts given to a stream of critical government and parliamentary inquiries into government communications, as well as through memoirs, autobiographies, biographies and archived interviews. This chapter collates these sources to analyse why governments are continuing to lose public trust.
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Notes
- 1.
This was probably Mike Granatt, Head of Profession for the GIS, who made way for Howell James, the first Permanent Secretary, Communications, from 2004, following the Phillis Report.
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Garland, R. (2021). How Bureaucrats and Parliamentarians Pushed Back Against Spin. In: Government Communications and the Crisis of Trust. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77576-6_6
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