Thomas Docherty

In early 2005, Docherty was part of an "all-PR" shortlist to become Labour candidate for the constituency of Copeland, which includes BNFL's Sellafield plant. The constituency was previously held by Jack Cunningham, a longstanding advocate of nuclear power. The other people on the shortlist were:

• Jamie Reed, at the time a BNFL press officer,
• Stuart Bruce of Bruce Marshall Associates, and
• Tim Walker, a Bell Pottinger board director and former special adviser to Cunningham.

Reed was selected, and held the seat for Labour. Reporting the story shortly after the election, PR Week wryly observed: "What this can mean for the re-elected Labour government's commitment to pump billions into a raft of new nuclear power stations, we couldn't possibly say."

However another of the PR men on the shortlist, Stuart Bruce, seemed quite clear about the significance of Reed's electoral success. A few days after the election, he wrote: "One of the challenges facing Jamie will be to help push the government into an essential replacement programme for our nuclear power stations. Good luck."

Civil Nuclear Industry Scottish CPG role

Docherty used to represent the UKAEA on the Scottish Parliament's Civil Nuclear Industry CPG, according to the CPG's website. After the Scottish Sunday Herald started researching the links between the CPG and lobbyists, Docherty's name was removed from the site.

References

This article uses material from the SourceWatch article on Thomas Docherty