FSA appoints Tony Blair's former spin doctor
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The FSA has appointed the former official spokesman of Prime Minister Tony Blair, Tom Kelly, as its new communications director.
Kelly joins from BAA, where he has been director of communications since 2007.
A former BBC journalist, his previous civil service roles include communications director at the Northern Ireland Office and Prime Minister’s official spokesman, where he worked from 2001 to 2007.
He will take up his new role on May 4 and will report to FSA chief executive Hector Sants.
Sants says: “I am pleased to welcome Tom Kelly to the FSA’s senior management team. His breadth of communications experience will bring considerable strength to the organisation as we take forward the priorities we have laid out in our recent business plan.”
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Readers' comments (12)
PensionMan | 6 Apr 2010 3:53 pm
Jobs for the boys eh!
Looks like the FSA are in need of a bit "spin"!
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Rod Leonardr | 6 Apr 2010 3:57 pm
Nepotism comes to mind, plus a pension and golden handshake when the FSA is wound up next year.
Meanwhile, we the dwinderling numbers of IFA's pay for him.
Typical Labour Ministers looking after their mouthpieces.
But of course the FSA is a limited company without guarentee, that has nothing to do with Government.
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Anonymous | 6 Apr 2010 4:01 pm
More jobs for the boys in the club. there is no doubt that to get appointed to the top jobs in the FSA you have to have the right connections.
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Anonymous | 6 Apr 2010 4:18 pm
I didn't see this job advertised. Surely with the election date announced jobs such as this should be put on freeze until the outcome of the election has been decided.
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Steve Pett | 6 Apr 2010 4:27 pm
Why not write to him and suggest that the FSA concentrates on POSITIVE spin i.e. the overwhelming GOOD the industry does rather than almost exclusively the negative aspects?
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Anonymous | 6 Apr 2010 5:33 pm
I cannot believe the sheer affront to us all on this appointment like others have said " Job for the boys" " what atime to make an appointment with an election and change of management at the FSA if it is to exist at all. Like another contributor stated where was this advertised and what is the salary and benefits etc .
I could go on
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Bill Wells | 6 Apr 2010 5:47 pm
Is there a course I can go on to train as an official liar.
I assume the post of official liar pays a lot better than being an IFA who is paid to tell the truth.
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snooks | 6 Apr 2010 5:55 pm
Sickening really-Civil servants shouldn't have 'communications directors'. They should surely be just quietly getting on with their jobs. It's blatant. It's dreadful. Enormous expense accounts and the swagger of the buccaneers that they seem to be. Surely requiring the FSA staff to be conscienscious, caring and humble and to treat those they regulate with respect is better than the swanky terrors that we seem to fund. How did this happen? Is it our fault? I suppose that we all could have stood up to them from day 1, but our living depends on the FSA looking favourably on us and we have absolutely no recourse to anyone if they treat us unfairly.
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John Harding | 6 Apr 2010 9:36 pm
It is my recollection that the British Airports Authority colluded with the government in a pack of lies about the need for and impact of a third runway at Heathrow. The BAA's 'Director of Communications' was presumably the guy in charge of spinning the rubbish.
One would expect that part of Tom Kelly's CV has something along the following lines.
'While Director of Communications at the BAA I did my damnedest to convince the British public that a third runway at Heathrow was not only essential for the UK economy but would also help us achieve future EU emissions targets. I feel I achieved the best result possible in the circumstances, the projections supporting these assertions being almost totally fictitious'.
I hardly think that having this on his CV could be positive reason for hiring this guy. However we are not told what the 'job description' is, perhaps this IS the sort of qualification required for the job of 'Communications Director' at the FSA! Depends what they'll be asking him to do!
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Sean | 7 Apr 2010 8:39 am
And how much are we paying for the FSA to use a spin doctor to convince us they are doing a good job?
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