City PR chief will pay the price for becoming the story

WHEN you’re charging people handsomely to enhance their reputation, the last thing you need is to have your own public image trashed. But that’s where Bell Pottinger, one of the biggest PR firms in London, finds itself.

As viewers of BBC’s Newsnight were powerfully reminded last night, the company is up to its neck in allegations that it helped orchestrate a “black ops” PR campaign in South Africa deliberately prodding powderkeg racial tensions. Swirling claims in some quarters say Bell Pottinger created, or knew its campaign colleagues were creating, fake social media feeds stirring up racist feeling.

So far, in dealing with its own crisis management, the firm has gone down the traditional route: apologise. Hire lawyers at Herbert Smith to investigate itself. Fire the executive in charge of the project.

But senior management remains in place. Chief executive James Henderson — who denies all knowledge of the wrongdoing — survived a crisis board meeting on Tuesday. Directors say they fleshed out a “surprising” plan for the company’s future to be revealed in due course.

Is that good enough? For some clients, no. This scandal happened on Henderson’s watch. It took place because he agreed to take on a client in South Africa — the billionaire Gupta family — with a controversial reputation and close links to a president, Jacob Zuma, mired in corruption allegations.

Even if Henderson wasn’t aware of how his staff would run the campaign, he should have known the risks of dealing with the Guptas. After all, Investec — the respected South African banking giant — dropped Bell Pottinger when it learned of the contract last spring. That was a red flag alert which should have, at the very least, led Henderson to keep a super-close watch on the campaign. Another flare went up in the summer when Richemont heir Johann Rupert — another exclient — opposed the contract.

Since the black ops scandal erupted in recent weeks, I’m told other African clients have walked. Temasek in Singapore will no longer work with Bell Pottinger on projects and, in London, Acacia Mining and CYBG — owner of Clydesdale bank — have moved. Another major UK client tells me it’s likely to follow suit soon.

Others are waiting for the outcome of the Herbert Smith inquiry and an August disciplinary hearing at the PR industry’s professional body, the PRCA. The last time it had a hearing of this magnitude was also into Bell Pottinger, over cash-for-access allegations. That tells you the firm is guilty of the cardinal sin of PR — becoming the subject of the story.

Henderson should have seen this coming. It’s hard to see how he can survive in post for long. @ArmitageJim