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Was a Tory PR firm behind a smear campaign against Grenfell’s MP?

A PR firm run by a former Downing Street staffer claimed to be behind a series of media attacks on Labour MP for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad, openDemocracy can reveal.

By Adam Ramsay
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Grenfell_Tower_fire_(wider_view).jpg
Grenfell_Tower_fire_(wider_view).jpg

Image: Grenfell Tower. Natalie Oxford/WikiCommons, Creative Commons 4.0 license.

Kingsgate Political Communications Limited is run by Christopher Brannigan, a former advisor to Theresa May who quit after the Tories’ disastrous general election last summer. Shortly after that vote – and after the Grenfell Tower fire a few days later shocked the world – a series of negative media stories appeared about newly elected Kensington Labour MP Emma Dent Coad. Unaware he was speaking to openDemocracy at a fundraiser, Brannigan bragged that his PR firm “did the Emma Dent Coad stuff”.

Media commentators have raised concerns about the role public relations firms play in shaping news coverage in Britain.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0