The fallout from the increasingly preposterous "Duffygate" affair on Wednesday has been taken up by the press, to increased levels of bizarre after Gordon Brown went round to her house in Rochdale to apologise in person for the "bigot" comments that were unwittingly broadcast for the benefit of everyone who cared to listen. We have had the rather unedifying spectacle of 50 eager reporters, cameramen, the odd PR man all decamping on the front door of a working class widow in her late sixties, waiting for her to deliver a few tasty morsels about the PM who was caught ragging her behind her back. Now it isn't really a surprise the press would do this, and I can't really say that I'd really blame her if she, as a women of limited means wanted to make a few bob by talking to the press. Apart from a PR man from Bell Pottinger (more on them later.), she had refused to say anything. But what was unusual, and was picked up on by the other reporters was the absence of any Sun reporters in the scrum. Surely a newspaper so visibly supporting David Cameron would relish a story that would damage the opposition? Where could they be? Then they all realised like any other object composed in 3 dimensions, a house has a rear that is obstructed to those seeing it from the front, and they scarpered to the back where 2 guys from the Sun were apparently taking photographs in her kitchen (they'd snuck in through hedges at the back. I doubt a flipping big camera being shoved in the foliage does wonders for the Leylandi.) and were seen coming out of her house looking remarkably dejected. According to Fleet Street gossip, Richard Moriarty - a Sun reporter, had good reason to look glum. He had offered her (reportedly) between £20 000 to £70 ooo to spill the beans. But he had also asked could she really lay into Brown, and would she mind endorsing David Cameron as well. As a Labour voter she stuck to principle and told him to get lost. It's certainly a strange affair when PM's and high ranking journalists are more afraid of standing up to Rupert Murdochs empire, rather than a paunchy pensioner from a provincial Northern town. Now normally I would stop the article here, as a charming tale of one - nil for "normal folk" putting the political / media elite to shame. But it produced further twists, and accusations of foul play, that wedged it all out of proportion for a while.
Bell Pottinger had set alarms ringing (see what I did there.) to those who knew about that PR company, and thought something iffy was afoot. The founder of it; Tim bell, was a big advertising guru for Maggie Thatcher in the 70's, and the currant chairman is a Tory activist who had gloated about Browns misfortune on his blog. Did the Bell Pettinger guy visiting Mrs Duffy also want her to shovel some shit at Brown? Astonishingly this wasn't the end of the suspicions that the whole thing was a bit dodgy. There was a counterclaim leveled against the firm that another Labour supporting director (who was Tony Blairs director of communication, after Alastair Campbell.) had stepped in before the hostile [to Labour] press to negotiate some form of damage limitation exercise with her! And that's not even getting into the role that the firm played in faking the moon landings (I made that last one up.). the actual reason the Bell Pottinger guy was there was that Mrs. Duffy had panicked about the press intrusion, rang her daughter to see what to do. The daughter just happened to work for a solicitors that used the services of a PR firm called... Bell Pottinger, who she asked to help her mum out. No greater conspiracy after all.
The twists and turns of this strange affair highlight the shady world of media PR pretty well. What they don't highlight is a sense of proportion and priority in media coverage of this election.
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