Apologies for the week or so's silence. As those of you who follow the UK press will be aware, we had a high-profile visitor last week in the form of Lord Mandelson, recently returned to the government as Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and accompanied by a delegation of businessmen led by Richard Lambert, Director-General the CBI.
Being the first visit to Russia by a Cabinet Minister in over a year and a half, this was always going an important visit for us. And every time I'm involved in this kind of visit I'm reminded just how much work goes into them. The months of planning, juggling the programme, finessing the logistics and (where I come in) managing the media - to make sure we provide the right amount of access to secure the coverage we want for the visit, but also to make sure the coverage stays as
focussed as possible on the substance.
All the hard work paid off, too. Lord Mandelson held productive meetings with a number of his Russian counterparts, the business delegation made some useful links, and the news was almost all good. So next time you see a Minister on the news, visiting a far-flung corner of the world, spare a thought for all the advance work that goes on behind the scenes.
Light blogging ahead for this week, too, I'm afraid. It's half-term, so I'm spending some time at home. Later this week I'm in London for a meeting of Senior Regional Communicators - more on this when I return.
Posted at 10:29 03 November 2008 by James Barbour |
- Share this with:
-
-
-
-
-