Mike Granatt

This article is part of the Propaganda Portal project of Spinwatch.

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

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

Mike Granatt works with lobbying agency Luther Pendragon.

Career

• Joined the Civil Service in 1979 working on policies including nuclear power, biodiversity, broadcasting, crime prevention and counter-terrorism.
• Has served as press secretary to both Conservative and Labour Cabinet ministers.
• June 2001 - 2002, He "devised and led the Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat for dealing with civil emergencies".
• 2003, Joined Luther Pendragon
• 2005, Approached by the House of Commons to work for the Speaker, Michael Martin, in an attempt to turn his image around.
• 2008, Left his role with Martin having unwittingly misled a journalist about a story over the Speaker's expenses.

Communications expert

Granatt worked in communications in the civil service for years, earning himself the nickname of 'Metal Mickey', owing to his habit of being the first to acquire new gadgets.

His reputation as a high ranking official was proven when New Labour came to power, and during his purge of senior press officers Alastair Campbell did not dare touch Granatt.

From June 2001 to late 2002 he devised and led the Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat for dealing with civil emergencies, a role which became one of the most serious in government after September 11 occurred in 2001. He also dealt with the fall-out from the Piper Alpha oil platform fire, the fuel protests of 2000 and the response to the Millennium Bug.

Previously, he had dealt with the fall-out from a number of high-profile crises, including the Piper Alpha oil platform fire, the fuel protests of 2000 and the response to the Millennium Bug.

Luther Pendragon

In 2003 he joined PR company Luther Pendragon as a partner. On appointing a former government spin doctor, founder Charles Stewart-Smith said: ‘We’ve not hired these guys for their contacts. We are not an old-school lobbying firm that recruits names just to rub shoulders with MPs. Mike and Simon have been hired because they can do the job'.

Speaking up for Mr Speaker

In 2005, Whitehall contacted Luther Pendragon wanting Granatt to represent the then Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin. Granatt worked one day a month for Martin and was available to take press queries as and when they arose, the firm invoiced the House of Commons Commission for £25,000 a year in return.

Resignation

In February 2008 he resigned from his role with Martin, stating that he left for "ethical reasons" having given out the wrong information to a journalist after claiming he was misled by Commons officials over a story by the Mail of Sunday about Martin's wife using taxis for shopping. It was claimed, by the newspaper, that Martin's wife had claimed more than £4,000 in taxpayer-funded taxi expenses since May 2004. At the time Granatt rejected the story, claiming the shopping trips had been for food for government-related functions and Mrs Martin had been accompanied by an official at all times, however Granatt has since learnt that the 'official' was a housekeeper of the Martin's.

Affiliations

Civil Contingencies Secretariat | Defence Academy | Luther Pendragon | Government Information Service/Government Information and Communication Service

Connections

Jamie Macintosh | Michael Martin

Contact

Email: mikegranatt@luther.co.uk

Resources

• Wikipedia Mike Granatt - Largely written by a user titled 'Mgranatt'