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 [2] (http://www.prweek.com/uk/search/article/476577/diary-labour-candidate-emerges-wins/):
- 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." [3] (http://www.prweek.com/uk/search/article/476577/diary-labour-candidate-emerges-wins/)
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." [4] (http://www.20six.co.uk/middletonpark/archive/2005/05/11/t3r94qyghpvo.htm)
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 [5] (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Image:Scottish-civil-nuclear-cpg-in-yahoo-cache-26jan06.jpg).
After the Scottish Sunday Herald started researching the links between the CPG and lobbyists, Docherty's name was removed from the site [6] (http://www.sundayherald.com/53711) [7] (http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/crossPartyGroups/groups/cpg-cni.htm).
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