Julian Eccles

This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch.

This article is part of the Lobbying Portal, a sunlight project from Spinwatch.

Julian Eccles is a former part-time special adviser to the Labour Party and former Head of Marketing and Communications at the Football Association (FA). He is now vice president of Millicom International Cellular (Tigo), which offers a range of digital services to over 50 million customers primarily under the Tigo brand in 14 markets in Africa and Latin America.

Background

Eccles had experience working with the Labour Party prior to his appointment as special adviser, having worked in the policy directorate from 1984 to 1989 and as election co-ordinator for the general secretary in 1992.

From 1993 to 1997, Eccles was Senior Public Affairs Consultant at public relations firm Hill & Knowlton (H&K), part of the WPP international marketing group. While at H&K, Eccles specialised in IT, broadcasting, and lottery issues.

In May 1997, it was announced that Eccles was to be appointed as special adviser to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Chris Smith. According to Simon Pearse, Senior Account Director at H&K, "There was a wide-spread expectation that he would get some sort of post."

After leaving his post as special adviser in 1998, Eccles became the first Corporate Communications Director at British Interactive Broadcasting (BiB TV), a service which sought to provide home shopping, banking and entertainment via digital satellite television. BiB was later bought out by Sky, and from 2000 to 2005 Eccles was Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at BSkyB. At Sky Eccles replaced the former spin doctor Tim Allan, who now runs Portland PR.

From April 2007 to March 2010, Eccles was Communications Director at the regulator Ofcom. Speaking about the appointment, he remarked "This is one of the most fascinating and attractive jobs in the communications sector."

March 2010, Football Association

In 2010, Eccles was appointed as group Head of Marketing and Communications at the Football Association (FA). Then FA Chief Executive, Ian Watmore, said of Eccles' appointment: "I am delighted we have been able to recruit someone of Julian's calibre and breadth of experience. He comes with exceptional references and I know he will make a big impact for The FA as we face the challenges ahead."

However, Watmore resigned the same week; only nine months into the job but apparently already exasperated by internal conflicts and the limitations of the role. His relationship with the FA’s independent chairman David Triesman was reportedly "lukewarm". Watmore initially offered his resignation on the 19th March, but despite Triesman's attempts to convince him to stay, a leaked e-mail about Eccles' appointment further isolated Watmore. In an e-mail to the board, Watmore expressed dismay at the leak, but the angry reaction he received from some led him to conclude that, according to Times journalist Oliver Kay, "the egos and vested interests within the game were making his job impossible". Highlighting the Association's "huge sensitivity over their top-heavy recruitment from politics", the Daily Mail published extracts from a question-and-answer section of the leaked FA correspondence sent to their board:

Q: Haven’t you just appointed yet another Whitehall/Labour hack?

A: Absolutely not. Julian’s breadth of experience matches precisely the demands of this role. His background is at Sky, the biggest investor in football, at the DCMS, the government department responsible for sport, at Ofcom, a formidable regulator, and at Hill & Knowlton, a giant in PR. Furthermore, the references from his ex-Sky bosses (Tony Ball and James Murdoch) were quite exceptional.

Journalist Charles Sale suggests this is in addition to "another loaded political question... whether Eccles knew FA chairman David Triesman", adding that Eccles is now "a member of the Whitehall set at Wembley", alongside Labour peer Triesman, chief executive and former civil servant Ian Watmore and the new head of public affairs Robert Sullivan, a former consultant and researcher for the Conservatives.