Will Chambré

Will Chambré is the Managing Director of Chambré Public Affairs which he established in early 2002. He has 14 years experience of public affairs and public relations in Northern Ireland, London and beyond.

He worked in the House of Commons for a number of MPs and was a member of the British Gas parliamentary affairs team during the passage of the UK Gas Act 1995. In 1996, he joined the House of Commons-based Future of Europe Trust where he was responsible for organising events for young politicians from across Europe and was answerable to a cross-party group of MPs.

On leaving the Commons, he worked as a public affairs consultant for two years. On his return Northern Ireland in 2000 he worked for a leading public affairs and PR agency. There he led a number of successful lobbying campaigns for clients who included BG Group plc and Countryside Alliance.

defending Ian Paisley junior

On Friday last week a political update from the lobby firm Chambre Public Affairs dropped in my e-mail in box. It accused the BBC of finding Ian Jr. guilty of nothing more than lobbying for his constituents. I shall put the full Chambre comment in the extended entry below...

Here is the section of the Chambre Political Update dealing with Ballee:

Ian Paisley Junior - guilty

The BBC having made a mountain out of a molehill or rather an entire documentary out of Ian Paisley Junior's friendship with Seymour Sweeney and the failure of Junior's solicitor to properly register a property he bought from Mr Sweeney. The BBC has found Ian Junior guilty of lobbying on behalf of his constituents. The constituents, who want to buy back land from the Executive, which they were forced to sell many decades ago, happen to be dealing with a consortium of businessmen that include Seymour Sweeney - apparently this is a misdemeanour in the eyes of the BBC too.

One does not know what facts will emerge in the future but I'm afraid the BBC are being long on insinuation and short on facts at present. Ian Junior is guilty in this case - but only of extreme naivety. Now that he is a junior minister, he, and his father, a member of the Executive, would be well advised to hand any constituency work that might lead to any accusations of conflicts of interest to the third DUP MLA, the highly able Mervyn Storey. Mind you that might assist Mr Storey's possible bid for the DUP Westminster nomination when ever the First Minster steps down from Westminster.

Affiliations

• a member of the Northern Ireland Government Affairs Group, a member of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland and a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. He holds a BA Hons degree in History from Sussex University.