Alastair Campbell,exit stage left: Do the ‘Phillis’ recommendations represent a new chapter in political communications or is it ‘business as usual’?

That there has been a breakdown in trust between government, the media and the people in the UK is now a commonplace axiom—indeed, it was the starting point of the Review of Government Communications undertaken by Bob Phillis in 2003 at the promptings of the House of Commons Select Committee on Public Administration. The Review reported in February 2004, and the government has indicated that it intends to accept the majority of its recommendations. The Review was supposed to usher in a new era in the relationship between government, the media and the people but this might turn out to be a false expectation. Because the Review was based on a number of false assumptions, it runs the risk of creating a system which entrenches some of the worst aspects of the old system without achieving any significant improvements. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications