This week’s (1 December) resignation of Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) chief Richard Hughes has been the latest headline for what has been dubbed “the worst failure” in OBR’s history.
Hughes departure was prompted after it accidentally released its full parliamentary fiscal report ahead of the 2025 Budget (26 November).
Speaking to PRmoment founder Ben Smith on the latest episode of The PR News Review, Angie Moxham, founder of 3 Monkeys and Fourth Angel described the Budget blunder as “a bit of a car crash”.
Moxham added that Labour was, “scoring ridiculous own goals when you look through the lens of PR and comms — [especially] the shot of Rachel Reeves with the briefcase. I felt embarrassed to be honest”.
She continued: “The reality is younger people are being penalised in favour of older people, and what concerns me is that we are seeing a brain drain.
@prmomentuk Angie Moxham on Labour’s communications chaos’s the budget and OBR gate.
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“Younger people that can [afford to] are going to seek their fortunes elsewhere in countries where they believe there is optimism and opportunity, be that in the EU or Dubai or wherever.
“Those that can't afford to do that; if you’re not giving them opportunity don't be surprised at the consequences of that, like an increase in crime and drug use. We are in a moment of crisis, that’s my view. It's not all Labour's fault, it's a collective fault of many different governments, society and the media.”
But, some politicians are still getting disruptive communications right, according to Mark Borkowski, founder of Borkowski PR and PR commentator who believes that Green Party leader Zack Polanski could have a powerful influence over young people.
“Polanski is very much like [Zohran] Mamdani in America at the moment. He’s really cutting through to young people.
“Being in government is incredibly difficult. That's why when you look back on the golden days of Labour with the Blair government it was so strong, and had control internally of the messaging… there has to be the case that there is a disturbance in the force internally, a lack of confidence to lead and being battered daily by the press.”
@prmomentuk Do great communicators make great political leaders? #labourparty #ukpolitics #uknews #pr #fyp ♬ original sound - PRmoment
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