Matthew Freud

Matthew Freud was born in 1964 and is the founder and chairperson of PR Firm Freud Communications. He is the great-grandson of Sigmund Freud and son of 'journalist and raconteur' Clement Freud.

A report in the Independent in 2008 describes Matthew Freud along with fellow PR figures Roland Rudd and Tim Allan as 'representatives of the new power aristocracy. They and others of their ilk are charming men. Charm is the essence of their coinage. But their increasingly ubiquitous presence in the upper reaches of politics and the media is alarming. They move in the shadows. They are unaccountable. They will serve almost any master. They butter up the media with stories, and expect favours in return'. According to The Mail, Freud is a 'self-proclaimed "great manipulator", the PR guru on first-name terms with half the Cabinet'.

On February 18 M&C Saatchi were informed that Freud had bought 3.3% stake in their company. This means that apart from the four founders (each owning 6.44%), Freud has the highest stake in the company.

Background

Freud is married to Rupert Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch. They were married in 2001 and have a daughter, Charlotte, and a son, Samson Murdoch Freud.

Labour Party Connections

In 2001, Sathnam Sanghera of the Financial Times asked Freud if he had ever given advice to Tony Blair. Freud is reported to have given a long pause and muttered to himself in response, before saying that "There's no clever way of answering that." Kris Thykier, Freud's managing director interjected "Matthew's always been very open about his work for the Labour party... he's organised events and..." before being cut off by Freud, who exclaimed 'No'. Freud eventually admitted that he had indeed given advice to Blair and that he has been involved in various steering groups. Little information is divulged on the details. Sanghera reports that the interview continued with Freud and Thykier acting in a 'deeply paranoid manner' throughout the meeting

The Guardian reports that Peter Mandelson appointed Freud to work on the Millennium Dome and to sit on one of the project's most senior committees. The report also states that Freud had a close relationship with Tessa Jowell which 'meant that when her ministerial career wobbled thanks to alleged bribes paid by Silvio Berlusconi to her husband David Mills, Freud put his PR skills at her disposal, and was - to quote one expert on New Labour - "very active on the phone - a mixture of cajoling, and threatening, and all of that"'.

Freud is reported to be a friend of Mandelson, and according to the Guardian,

'It has been said that prior to Mandelson's appointment as secretary of state for the DTI, Freud set about galvanising support for his friend in the press. Subsequently, the rumour has spread that Freud helped Mandelson gain his cabinet job. According to one sceptical Labour insider, the so-called campaign could be traced back to one article in the Sun entitled 'Peter's Friends', which had Mandelson down as an intimate of various celebrities including some, like Tom Cruise, whom he had never met. 'Freud placed that story,' says the Labour man. 'His understanding of politics is not that deep and mature.'.

The Guardian also states that 'Freud had a big hand in organising the party that celebrated Labour's victory at the 2001 election' and in 1997, according to the Independent, Freud Communications is listed as a donator/sponsor of the Labour Party for a sum exceeding £5,000

In 2000, the Guardian refered to 'Another story doing the rounds in London' that 'Freud approached the Labour Party and asked what exactly would be required for him to be awarded a peerage'. When Freud was asked if this was true, his answer is described as a 'denial' which was however 'frank and revealing'. The report quotes Freud as saying

'I work for the Labour Party, I work for the Dome and charities. At some point, you do get recognition. Funnily enough, though, I would not want a peerage as it currently exists. Perhaps when I'm 60, but not now. But if people are going to be appointed to the new upper house on merit, that's something I'd quite like to be considered for. I'm very interested in politics, but I don't think I want to be a Member of Parliament.'

Freud Communications

PR Firm, Freud Communications was established by Matthew Freud in 1985 when it was then known as Matthew Freud Associates. Freud sold the company to Abbott Mead Vickers in 1994, which was later taken over by Omnicom. Freud continued to run the company during this time, then in 2001, he bought back the company as a cost of £12m. The buy out was reportedly "financed with money from the directors, Barclays and one outside investor - Merrill Lynch media analyst Neil Blackley". The Financial Times reported that Freud secured a 51% share with 11 other directors (including Thykier, who was Freud's best man and looks after the entertainment side of the business) sharing "undisclosed stakes". The company at the time of the buy out is reported to have been worth £20m, which has brought speculation as to why Freud was able to buy it back for a 'song'. The report continues by stating that Freud refused to disclose any details quoting him as saying that "one of the nice things about having a private company is that you can tell people to fuck off when they ask impertinent questions".

Freud's clients include stars such as Geri Halliwell, Chris Evans, Guy Ritchie, and Ali G, as well as brands such as Braun's Oral B and Lynx. His portfolio has also included BT, Pepsi, BSkyB, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Virgin Radio, Planet Hollywood, Steve Coogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uri Geller along with the hosting of events such as for the Young Labour Party conference and the Bafta awards. He also has stakes in smoothie company Pete & Johnny's, The Third Space, a Soho gym, and the Groucho Club. Other clients have included Unilever, Nestle and Nike.

Around the year 2001, Freud's made the decision to become a wider-based marketing company and work on 'cross-fertilisation'. As Freud's creative director, Paul Melody explained "We want to combine the entertainment and brand sides of the business and shift from interruption marketing like PR, where you just drop the message in front of the consumer, to integrated marketing, where the brand itself is the message. Traditional PR would, for instance, involve getting a product on Richard & Judy, but integrated marketing is about saying, hey, let's make our own programme.".

An example of this approach is when Freud got together with underground dance music label 'Fantasia' to create a Lynx-branded CD. They then put together a programme of annual dance music events sponsored by the brand, which were then televised on Channel 4. "We found an entertainment-based way of talking to Lynx's consumer base," says Freud's Managing Director Kris Thykier, "But we created the content ourselves."

Dinner and Drinks with David Cameron and Rupert Murdoch

During the summer of 2008, Matthew Freud provided flights for David Cameron to join him and Rupert Murdoch for drinks and then dinner. Delaying the start of his family holiday in Turkey, Cameron flew to Santorini, where he had drinks with Freud and Murdoch (and The Sun editor, Rebekah Wade, who was also in attendance) on Murdoch's luxury yacht 'Rosehearty'. They then moved on to a dinner party on Freud's yacht. Cameron's entry in the Register of Interests declares the free flights from Freud, but no mention is made of his meeting with Murdoch as House of Commons rules do not require members to disclose details of complimentary trips. A Spokesperson for Cameron stated that this was a 'social event', however, 'a Labour MP questioned whether Mr Cameron's entry in the register of interests was accurate and urged him to amend it to include his meeting with Mr Murdoch'. The Independent reports that 'Denis MacShane, a former Foreign Office minister, said: "First George Osborne, and now David Cameron, have made a mockery of the idea of transparency, disclosure and accountability for senior politicians as they seek to sell their party and discuss their financial affairs with rich foreigners."'

David Cameron and Rupert Murdoch were also in attendance at Freud's wife's 40th birthday celebrations at Burford Priory.

Other guests in attendance are reported as being:

• George Osborne - shadow chancellor of the exchequer and a friend of Freud.
• David Miliband - foreign secretary.
• Tony Blair - 'regular guest at the couple's well-attended soirees and Freud also works for the former prime minister's Faith Foundation'.
• Tessa Jowell - former culture minister & in charge of the Olympics. Freud is reported to have organised PR for Olympic handover events and the torch relay.
• Philip Gould – 'key New Labour architect' who is also vice chair of Freud Communications.
• Roger Alton - Independent editor and formerly editor of the Observer. Freud is reported to oversee the marketing strategy for the Independent
• Andy Coulson - former News of the World editor who runs the Tories' communications strategy.
• Roland Rudd - Co-founder and senior partner of City PR firm Finsbury and formerly FT journalist who worked with Freud on the Northern Rock deal.
• Gail Rebuck - The Random House UK boss who is married to Lord Gould and is a Freud client.
• Charles Dunstone - Chief executive of Carphone Warehouse.
• John Witherow Editor of the Sunday Times.
• Will Lewis - Editor-in-chief of the Telegraph Media Group and former Sunday Times business editor.
• Rebekah Wade - Editor of the Sun.
• James Murdoch - Chairman and chief executive of News Corp in Europe and Asia and chairman of BSkyB.
• Emma Freud - Matthew's sister who is a writer and TV and radio presenter.
• Richard Curtis - Writer and director and one of the driving forces of Comic Relief, who is partner of Emma Freud.
• Martin Sorrell - Chief executive of WPP and 'Britain's best-known ad man'.
• Howard Stringer - Head of Sony, which has a stake in Lis Murdoch's Shine production company.
• Kate Weinberg - Works with the Daily Telegraph and is partner of James Harding.
• James Harding - Times editor and former FT journalist who has close ties to James Murdoch.
• Alan Yentob - Creative director at the BBC.
• Dawn Airey - former Sky executive soon to start as boss at Channel 5.
• Peter Fincham - ITV director of television who commissioned Shine to produce Merlin while controller of BBC1.
• Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner - co-chairmen of Working Title Films who are long-term Freud clients.
• Bono and Bob Geldoff - Freud is reported to be responsible for launching Bono's campaign to fight Aids and other diseases in Africa (Project Red) and involved with Geldoff and Richard Curtis in the Live Aid concert.

Contact, References and Resources

Resources

• Stephen Glover, When you are a defender of democracy, beware the servant of many masters, The Independent, 27 October 2008.