On Friday, October 10, 2014 3:49:14 AM UTC+1, nuther
>
> Spect carole wilkinson would have been on the
>
> tidy up list too,
>
> If it wurney for tony steele..
> ////
Just to add some stuff about Bernard Ingham
from wiki..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Ingham
Ingham spent 11 years as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's
chief press secretary in No. 10 Downing Street.
In 1989-90 he was also head of the Government Information Service.
In the course of his civil service career he
was also press secretary to Barbara Castle, Robert Carr,
Maurice Macmillan, Lord Carrington, Eric Varley and Tony Benn.
Although a career civil servant, Ingham gained a reputation for
being a highly effective propagandist for the Thatcherite cause.
The phrase spin doctor did not enter common parlance until after
his retirement, but he was nevertheless a gifted exponent in what
came to be known as the "black arts" of spin.
In 1989, three years after the Westland helicopter scandal led to
the reesignation of Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine,
former cabinet minister Leon Brittan revealed in a Channel 4
programme that Ingham was one of two senior Downing Street
officials who had approved the leaking of a crucial letter from
the then Solicitor General Patrick Mayhew, in which he
questioned some of the statements that Heseltine had made about
the takeover contest of the Westland helicopter company.
Brittan's claim that Ingham and Charles Powell had approved the
leak of the letter led to calls from some Labour MPs for
there to be a new inquiry into the Westland affair.
Ingham was knighted on Thatcher's resignation -
and retirement - in 1990.
His successor as press secretary was Sir Gus O'Donnell,
who went on to become cabinet secretary and head of the
civil service in 2005.
Brass Eye
Ingham appeared on the satirical television programme,
Brass Eye. He was persuaded to appear in a short sequence,
in which he issued a stern warning to young people about the
dangers of a purported new drug, "cake",
one of several celebrities who appeared not to recognise the
satirical nature of the programme.
/////
Hillsborough
Ingham is known for his comments concerning the 1989 Hillsborough
disaster. In a letter addressed to a parent
of a victim of the disaster, Ingham reiterated his belief that
the disaster was caused by "tanked up yobs",a view later proven
inaccurate through subsequent investigations.
In a letter written to a Liverpool supporter,
Ingham remarked that people should "shut up about Hillsborough",
comments he has since refused to apologise for.
//
http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/BernardIngham.html
Sir Bernard Ingham was a journalist for 18 years on his
local weekly, the Hebden Bridge Times, then the Yorkshire
Evening Post, Yorkshire Post and The Guardian before becoming
a temporary Civil Servant in 1967.
He intended to return to Fleet Street after two years but it
took him 24 years to get back. In between he was press secretary
in first the Department of Employment (to Barbara Castle,
Robert Carr and Maurice Macmillan) and then in the Department
of Energy (to Lord Carrington, Eric Varley and Tony Benn).
For the last two years of his time in Department of Energy he
was first head of the energy conservation policy division
which included renewables.
He was asked to be Mrs Thatcher's Chief Press Secretary in No 10
in 1979 without having known or met her and remained in that
position until she resigned and he retired in 1990. Since then
he has been a columnist, broadcaster, author and consultant
and currently am Secretary of Supporters of Nuclear Energy,
a pressure group of individuals.
////