A plethora of journalists, PR and political professionals gathered last week to rub shoulders at a press awards ceremony hosted by communications outfit Pagefield.
Among the gongs on offer was ‘Best Campaign of the Past 12 Months’, which was described as sitting at the ‘heart of British journalism’.
So attendees were somewhat surprised when the winner wasn’t a journalist at all.
Scoop: Nigel Farage won the award for his ‘campaign’ against the decision by NatWest-owned Coutts to close his bank account
Instead, it was former Ukip leader and Brexit architect Nigel Farage who scooped the award for his ‘campaign’ against the decision by NatWest-owned Coutts to close his bank account.
The debacle caused a massive PR crisis for NatWest and ultimately led to the resignation of boss Alison Rose as well as Coutts head Peter Flavel.
Of course, Nigel was not present to accept the award as he is languishing in the Australian jungle, appearing in the latest series of I’m A Celeb.
Time for some celebratory kangaroo anus perhaps?
T-shirt fundamentalist switches to wearing a suit
T-shirt fundamentalist Greg Jackson made a concession to formality at last week’s Global Investment Summit at Hampton Court by wearing a suit jacket and polo neck top.
Luckily no one seemed to notice the red wine stain on the Octopus energy boss’s jacket from pre-summit drinks the night before – which was blamed on Kamal Ahmed, editor of the Gen-Z-focused brand The News Movement.
Break out the Vanish!
Changes at Revolut
There were some changes on the board of fintech firm Revolut as the group announced that Romanian tech entrepreneur Dan Teodosiu would be joining as a non-executive director.
Teodosiu counts Silicon Valley giants Google and Microsoft among his former employers.
His last job was tech boss at Onfido, an identity verification firm based in London.
Perhaps he can help Revolut get its UK banking licence, which it claimed in March would be granted ‘imminently’. We make it 278 days and counting.
Whispers notes that the Revolut board includes just one woman – Deloitte alumna Caroline Britton – so perhaps next time they recruit they could hunt for some gender balance.
Checking Labour’s breakfast receipts
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves hosted a breakfast last Monday with about 35 bosses and executives in what some in the City deemed an attempt to steal thunder from the Government’s Global Investment Summit on the same day.
Those attending included Sir William Lewis, the newly appointed head of US newspaper The Washington Post.
One wonders whether Starmer and Reeves were more tight-lipped than usual around Lewis, who as editor of The Daily Telegraph in 2009 led the team that broke the MP expenses scandal.
This was before Starmer and Reeves’ time in office.
But Whispers expects the receipts were checked extra carefully.
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