Simon Benson
Simon Benson joined Fleishman-Hillard after two and a half years in the heart of government as a special adviser to two Cabinet members, Hilary Armstrong MP and Jacqui Smith MP, the former Home Secretary.
As a Special Adviser in the Chief Whip’s Downing Street office, Simon was responsible for liaison with the Prime Minister’s Political Office and the Downing Street Press Office, and worked on a day to day basis with Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State, backbench MPs, senior civil servants and special advisers, as well as key figures in the Labour Party and political media correspondents.
Simon has a keen understanding of the way the Whitehall machine works and how politics affects all elements of UK policy. He has a good knowledge of Parliament and the people behind the scenes in both Houses. He has worked with senior political reporters from all the major newspaper titles.
Simon has previously worked for two other Ministers, including the Labour Party Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman MP and Justice Minister, Bridget Prentice MP.
He brings over ten years of Westminster and Whitehall experience to Fleishman-Hillard.
By Simon Benson, Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs London
Lord Mandelson has been enjoying this week. Perhaps buoyed by last weekend’s Sunday Times opinion poll, he has been on a one man mission to cause as much havoc to the credibility of Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft as possible, whilst simultaneously distracting the Tory spin machine and causing general irritation within the Cameron camp. For the first time, the Conservatives’ loathing of the Business Secretary may have become greater than the Prime Minister’s. Indeed, reports this week of a bust up at Number Ten between the two mai…
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By Simon Benson, Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs London
The tone of General Elections in the UK changed forever this week with the final details of the first ever live TV debates between the party leaders being announced by British broadcasters.
The debates will centre around three themes; domestic affairs (chaired by Alastair Stewart in the North West and staged by ITV); international affairs (chaired by Adam Boulton in the South West and staged by Sky News) and the economy (chaired by David Dimbleby in the Midlands and staged by the BBC).
The debates will be up to 90 minutes long and will be…
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By Simon Benson, Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs London
The weekend’s Sunday Times YouGov poll made grim reading for activists at the Conservatives’ Spring Conference in Brighton. It suggested that Cameron’s lead had shrunk to just two points which it claimed would give Labour enough seats to lead a minority Government in a hung Parliament.
This poll, however, came only a few days after another in a national newspaper which gave the Conservatives an increased lead of 13 points.
Like the first cuckoo of spring, we have the first of the pre-election ‘poll differentiations’ as they a…
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By Ian Tennant, Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs, London
In December 2009, the leaders of the main UK parties finally struck a deal with the BBC, ITV and Sky to air three televised live debates during the 2010 General Election campaign. Televised debates have been on the agenda for decades, but Prime Minister after Prime Minister – including the very telegenic Tony Blair turned them down time and again. Their reasoning was that head to head debates between party leaders was commonplace already in the UK thanks to its Parliamentary system of democracy; the Prime Minister fields quest…
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By Rebecca Lury, Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs
The Speaker’s conference recently concluded its investigation into parliamentary representation. What they found may not have been revolutionary: the UK needs more women, black and minority ethnic, and disabled people in parliament. But its conclusions only reinforce that action is needed now.
The report considered the introduction of quotas for women and suggested that there might be a case for making all women shortlists compulsory. But is this the right way to successfully increase the number of women in Parliament?
Women face bo…
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