James Bethell
James Bethell (b. 1 October 1967) is director of lobbying consultancy Westbourne Communications, which he set up in June 2009,[1] and the former director of the Nothing British campaign against the BNP.
Contents
Background
Bethell attended Harrow and studied at the University of Edinburgh. He was a financial journalist with the Independent before 1995.[2]
A former journalist for The Sunday Times, Bethell was the Conservative candidate for Tooting in the 2005 general election, and also managing director of the London nightclub Ministry of Sound for over a decade.[3]
Bethell has worked for US Senator Robert Dole, EU Commissioner Lord Brittan and also for David Cameron during his campaign for the Conservative leadership.[4]
He is a former managing partner of Portland PR from 2006 until 2008 when he joined Policy Exchange as its communications director [5] where he remained for less than three months.
Bethell’s father was a Conservative MEP and hereditary peer, Nicholas Bethell, the 4th Baron Bethell. Since his passing in 2007, James has been the 5th Baron Bethell.
Defeated in House of Lords by-election
In March 2017 he narrowly missed his bid to become a lifetime member of the House of Lords, coming second after putting his name forward to fill a vacancy among the 92 elected hereditary peers in a by-election triggered by the death of Lord Lyell. [6]
Affiliations
- Nothing British
- ConservativeHome - contributor
- Guido Fawkes - describes Bethell as a "good friend"
- Richard Smith -funded a major piece of Nothing British's research in November 2010 [7]
Publications
- James Bethell, Why I'm launching an online fightback against the poison of the BNP, The Daily Mail, 15 May 2009
Resources
- Melissa Jones and Andy Rowell, Access all areas: Westminster's (vast) fracking lobby exposed, 29 April 2015.
Notes
- ↑ Our People, Westbourne Communications, accessed 6 July 2010.
- ↑ The Peerage James Nicholas Bethell, 5th Baron Bethell, accessed 9 April 2013
- ↑ About Page, Nothing British, accessed 16 July 2010.
- ↑ Our People, Westbourne Communications, accessed 6 July 2010.
- ↑ David Singleton, Senior Tories join forces to form new lobbying agency, prweek.com, Thursday, 14 May 2009
- ↑ David Singleton, Bethell misses out on Lords seat, Public Affairs News, 27 March 2017
- ↑ Tim Montgomerie, Introducing the A.N.T.I. voter (or, as I prefer to call them, the pound-stretchers), ConservativeHome blog, 27 November 2010
