Lord Bell’s Newsnight PR disaster

Although Lord Tim Bell is often referred to as Britain’s first king of spin, Mr S suspects he still has some work to do when it comes to mastering the art of good public relations.

After his former PR firm Bell Pottinger was expelled on Monday from the UK public relations trade body for its work on a controversial contract in South Africa, Bell appeared on Newsnight to put forward his side of the story. In an interview with Kirsty Wark, Thatcher’s PR man discussed the firm’s work on the campaign for Oakbay Capital – denying accusations he played a role in securing the business.

However, it was hard to focus on what he was saying. The reason? His phone went off not one, not two but three times during the live interview.

A rookie mistake…