Luther Pendragon

This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

Luther Pendragon is a London-based crisis communication and lobbying company.

Background

Luther Pendragon is the European affiliate of Nichols-Dezenhall.

According to the Nichols-Dezenhall website, Nichols-Dezenhall "helps manage Luther Pendragon's clients in the U.S., while Luther Pendragon helps Nichols-Dezenhall battle crises in Europe. The affiliation also gives Nichols Dezenhall access to top-flight resources in Germany and Belgium".

In September 2005, PR Week reported that "managing partner Simon Whale and partners Gina Coladangelo, Daniel Guthrie and Amy Kroviak have joined forces to take control from founders George Pitcher and Charles Stewart Smith. The pair started Luther in 1991 and between them own 75 per cent."

Pro-Nuke Activity

From August 2005, the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) has retained Luther Pendragon "to advise on communication issues arising from the third phase of the Committee's public and stakeholder engagement process".

According to CoRWM, "Luther Pendragon has been retained to support the process of consultation which will inform CoRWM's final recommendations, due to be presented to government in 2006. The Luther team will comprise: Adam Lewis, Ben Rich, Mike Granatt, Susie Winter and Aideen Lee.

For more details see the CoRWM page.

Luther Sub-Contracted to AMEC NNC Not CoRWM

When NuclearSpin sent in an FOI request for all correspondence between CoRWM and its PR company, Luther Pendragon, Defra officials discussed whether the information could be released. See CoRWM section for more details. Initially the officials believed the information could not be released as "our Media Advisors .. are a private sub-contracted company, and any communication/s they hold with CoRWM Members that does not channel via the secretariat (Defra) is held as confidential – between two private parties.”

Here was an admission that CoRWM’s PR company was not contracted to CoRWM but to AMEC NNC, a nuclear company. Also look at the CoRWM section to see how it was up to AMEC NNC and Luther as to what information was released rather than Defra officials.

FOI Request? - That Will be £200 An Hour Please

When Luther Pendragon was finally asked to provide details of correspondence between the PR company and CoRWM as part of the FOI request, Adam Lewis from Luther replied:

"We estimate that it will take a consultant around 7 hours in total. As per the contract this time is charged at £200 per hour bringing it to a total of £1400."

On receiving this, Adam Scott from CoRWM wrote to a colleague that:

"this is ridiculously expensive, please can you check urgently with defra FOI people whether we have to spend this kind of money as a result of their 'advice.'"

In the end, sources from CoRWM have told NuclearSpin that the money was not paid.

People

Partners

• Gina Coladangelo
• Mike Granatt
• Daniel Guthrie
• Amy Kroviak
• Ben Rich
• Andrew Sharkey
• Christopher Springham
• Simon Whale

Associates

• Charles Stewart-Smith;
• Sue Youngman

Associate Partners

• Jonathan McShane
• Susannah Winter

Senior Consultants

• Meg Baker
• Ben Frankel
• Rebecca Hewitt
• Adam Lewis
• Beany McLean

Consultants

• Alex Burnett
• Clare Haines
• Bridget Hargreave
• Rachael Hedley
• Aideen Lee
• Victoria Moore
• Serena Nicholls
• Jonathan Oates
• Sarah Crack
• Noor Yafai

Clients

Luther Pendragon lists a small selection of its clients in 2009 as: Alliance Against Intellectual Property Theft | Alliance Boots | All-Party Pharmacy Group | Baxter Healthcare | Boeing | BBC Trust | British Video Association | Cancer Campaigning Group | The Diocese of London | Drax Power | ECDC (European Centre for Disease Control) | John Lewis Partnership | Kurdistan Regional Government | Motion Picture Association | PepsiCo International (UK & Ireland) | The Scout Association

Luther Pendragon lists its clients in 2007 as: Alliance Against Counterfeiting & Piracy | Asset Investment Group | Association of Friendly Societies | Association of Independent Financial Advisors | Aviva | Bank Gesellschaft Berlin | Barclays Stockbrokers | Better Regulation Commission (Cabinet Office) | BG Property | Bloomberg Television | BMG | BNB Resources plc | Bourne Leisure | British Gas | British Phonographic Industry | British Video Association | Broadcasting Policy Group | Brunswick Direct | Business Link for Essex | Cabinet Office | Cable & Wireless | Callahan Associates International | C & J Clark | Centrex | Channel Three News Limited | Citylife | Citywire | Comdaq | Commission for Judicial Appointments | Commission for Racial Equality | Commodity Market Services | Company Chemists Association | Copyright Licensing Agency | Dawsons Solicitors | Department of Culture, Media & Sport | Department of Trade & Industry | dotmusic.com | Dow Jones | Ebiox | Electronic Share Information | EMI | Endsleigh | Energy Saving Trust | Essex County Council | Euronext.LIFFE | FACT | Farnborough International | Financial News | Fine Line | Food Standards Agency | Flamingo Holdings Ltd | Freshfields | Grant Thornton | Granville | Guinness Ireland Group | Head Teachers and Industry | HEDRA | HFC | History Channel | Holocaust Memorial Day (Home Office) | House of Fraser | Hudson Global Resourcing | Huntsman Corporation | iCrunch | Illuminator | IMIWeb | Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys | Integrum | Interactive Investor | Interconnector (UK) | Jarvis Plc | Kimberly-Clark Europe | Land Condition Record | Lawford & Co | Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund | Lloyd's of London | Make Votes Count | Mammals Trust UK | McDonald's | McGinley Recruitment Services | MCI WorldCom | Morgan Stanley | MSCI | National Grid | National Joint Utilities Group | National Pharmaceutical Association | NHP | North West Water | One 2 One | Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee | Phillips & Drew | Pinsent Curtis | Polygram | Port Greenwich | Powergen | Prudential Corporation | Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Rathbones | Reuben Brothers | Recruitment and Employment Confederation | Robert Dyas | Rock the Vote | Royal Academy of Arts | Royal London Insurance | Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain | Saville Gordon | Scottish Amicable | Sony | SOLOTEC | South London Partnership | Star Kids | St Luke's | Strategos | Syngenta | TCI International | Telecom Plus | Telewest | The Hinduja Group | The Stationery Office | TNT International | Thomson Directories | Towers Perrin | United Utilities | Urban Catalyst | US West | Valmet | Victoria Climbie Charitable Trust | Victoria Management Services | Vislink | Warner Bros | Westcountry Television | Wimpey | Wrigley | WSP Group

Contact details

Luther Pendragon
Priory Court
Pilgrim Street
London EC4V 6DR
Phone: +44 (0)20 7618 9100
Fax: +44 (0)20 7329 7301

http://www.luther.co.uk

External links

• Hannah Marriott, "DNA firm calls in Luther over Blunkett scandal", PR Week, 3 November, 2005. (Sub req'd).