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PR Life Stories: The PRmoment Podcast with Lord Tim Bell

This week on the PRmoment Podcast we’ve got Lord Tim Bell.

Lord Bell started his career as a runner in an advertising firm and ended up becoming the one of the most high profile PR people in the world. Synonymous with The Conservative Party of the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher and the now defunct Bell Pottinger - it’s been quite a career.

Here are the highlights of what we discuss:

  • Lord Bell’s perspective on the demise of Bell Pottinger

  • How Bell Pottinger might have survived the Oakbay Capital/Gupta scandal

  • How he feels about the PR firm he founded 25 years earlier going into administration

  • How he came to make the move from advertising to PR

  • The insider's perspective on his role advising the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher.

  • How government communications has changed since the 1980s

  • What was behind the growth of Bell Pottinger in 1988 to a £27m business in 2016

  • What was the rationale behind taking Bell Pottinger out of the wider Chime Group?

  • As a big beast of British public relations – looking back on his career what does Lord Bell believe his legacy will be?

  • Has the Bell Pottinger Oakbay Capital scandal affected Lord Bell’s legacy?

  • Why Lord Bell believes the PR industry is “always taking the wrong path”

  • What happened in the factory of Bell Pottinger - the Bell Pottinger London office

  • How many cigarettes Lord Bell has a day

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