Hiring of agency queried as D-Day row rumbles on

THE Department of National Heritage is facing searching questions over whether the hiring of a PR agency to handle the D-Day commemoration conformed to internal Whitehall guidelines on the use of outside consultants.

The questions were raised yesterday as it was confirmed by Downing Street that Dominic Morris, a member of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit, had sat on the committee chaired by Lord Cranborne, the defence minister, in charge since September of his department's D-Day planning.

Peter Mandelson, MP for Hartlepool, and a critic of the original guidelines, has written to Hayden Phillips, Permanent Secretary at the heritage department, demanding to know whether the hiring of Lowe Bell Communications was in line with the published guidelines.

And in a question designed to elicit official confirmation that Ian Sproat, the heritage under-secretary, may have intervened in the appointment of the firm headed by Sir Tim Bell, a frequent adviser to Tory governments, Mr Mandelson is demanding to know whether there was any 'ministerial involvement in the appointment at any stage'.

Mr Sproat confirmed in a written Commons answer last night that Lowe Bell, which was hired after tenders from a number of firms, had been paid a fee of pounds 50,000 together with administrative expenses at cost, up to pounds 12,500. The answer also makes it clear that where 'additional agreed expenses are incurred' these are paid at cost.

The guidelines, which have been seen by the Independent, explicitly warn that publicity campaigns can 'rebound to political credit of the party in government', and add that this 'must not be, or believed to be, either the primary purpose or a principal incidental purpose of the campaign'. They also warn that several public relations consultancies 'have close links with politicians. It is particularly hard to demonstrate in public that such considerations have played no part in the choice of a firm.'

Mr Mandelson, who is also asking for the views of Robert Sheldon, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, asks in his letter to Mr Phillips: 'Did you consider whether the employment of Lowe Bell to 'help implement a high profile programme of popular events' to commemorate D-Day might contravene (the guidelines) in view of the proximity of the planned events to the European elections?'

He says that the case 'raises a number of important issues concerning the Government's use of outside firms and consultancies'.

The Department of National Heritage said yesterday it was confident that the engagement of Lowe Bell conformed with the guidelines. It would be replying in due course to the detailed points raised in Mr Mandelson's letter.