CITY WHISPERS: Top firms rush to cosy up to Labour’s spin doctors

The Mail on Sunday reported last week that Sir Keir Starmer had hired spin doctors from the well-connected PR firm Brunswick to help the Labor Party strengthen ties with the business community.

The news appears to have sparked a scramble among the city’s top companies to reconcile with the agency as they wait to hear from a future prime minister.

A source close to Brunswick said the organization has received a significant influx of inquiries from top FTSE firms, many of which want to work with the PR teams and benefit from the group’s close ties with the party.

Labour’s partnership with Brunswick comes ahead of next year’s much-anticipated general election, which – according to all current opinion polls – will almost certainly herald a landslide victory for the party.

This would mean the end of fourteen years of conservative rule.

It always pays to have friends in high places.

Poland apart

One of the key announcements from last week’s Autumn Statement was the ‘biggest corporate tax cut in modern British history’, in the Chancellor’s words.

Britain is now doing well compared to other OECD countries.

But think for a moment about the Latin American country of Colombia, which was replaced in a comparison table in the official Treasury Department document with somewhere apparently called “Columbia.”

Investec’s crystal ball on the fritz

Investment manager Investec was left red-faced last week after a major problem with its debt forecasts.

The company predicted in a release on November 16 that the Treasury borrowed £22 billion in October, which would have been as much as £11.5 billion more than last year.

But last Monday the company emailed a correction note saying its forecast had been lowered to £11.5 billion, attributing the previous figure partly to a ‘coding error’ and apologizing to its mailing list customers for ‘the confusion caused’.

Regardless of Investec’s final forecast, it still managed to fall below the official Office for National Statistics figure, which was published a day later.

Their crystal ball must be on the fritz.

Beeswax expenditure for Department for Net Zero

Last week the government quietly published a set of spending data from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

These monthly breakdowns usually include expenses on items that would not be out of place for a central department, such as computer software costs and hotel stays for traveling officials.

But data for June showed the department had spent £815 on products from East Lothian beeswax wrap manufacturer Queen Bee Wraps.

Given the ongoing crises facing the government, these may have been used to wipe the sweat from ministers’ brows.

Contributor: Francesca Washtell