The UK’s Public Relations Consultants Association has withdrawn from the UK Public Affairs Council, which it co-founded, and said it will support the British government’s move to create a registry of public affairs pros in the country.
The maneuvering comes as the U.K.-based PR and PA powerhouse Bell Pottinger has been the focus of a series of articles about its work for clients. A website created by UKPAC to host a voluntary registry of PA pros has been beset by criticism for months.
PRCA and the Chartered Institute of PR created the UK Public Affairs Council in 2010 and have worked to create a voluntary registry for PA pros in the country.
“It is with regret that we have reluctantly concluded that UKPAC will not be able to deliver the statutory register that the government has decided to introduce,” said PRCA chairman Sally Costerton. “Thanks to repeated delays and inaccuracies in its work, UKPAC simply lacks the credibility and competence to meet the government’s objectives.”
Costerton said PRCA now believes an independent registry should be created to include all PA pros, including those in-house at companies, think tanks, trade union and lobby groups, not just those employed by multi-client consultancies as was previously planned.
Jane Wilson, CEO of the Chartered Institute for PR, called PRCA’s exit from the UKPAC “disappointing, “adding that it came without consultation with CIPR and is “counterproductive.”
“The CIPR believes industry unity is the key to ensuring that the current negative impressions of lobbying in the media do not lead to over-regulation of our industry,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the lobbying industry has “nothing to fear” from a statutory registry and urged the government to “introduce one as soon as possible.”
The Bell Pottinger controversy was sparked after reporters from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism posed as officials of Uzbekistan and recorded conversations with BP executives.
A series of stories have been produced about BP work for clients like News Corp.’s Rebekah Brooks and foreign governments. BP has blasted the reporting as “unethical.”