Howell James, former political adviser to John Major and now
co-founder of his own PR firm, has just returned from a two-month trek
through South America. ’I did all those things I should have done when I
was wearing Lennon glasses and a caftan,’ he says.
In the intervening years James’ career has encompassed some of the most
exciting jobs in communications. He has gathered a formidable group of
friends and contacts.However, despite the lofty circles in which he moves,
James has the unpretentious manner of a very normal man. He cuts a
conservative figure in the refurbished Belgravia office from which he and
two partners (Sir Nicholas Lloyd, former editor of the Daily Express and
Peter Brown, Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s US-based publicist) are establishing
their strategic consultancy Brown Lloyd James.
James’ career began in 1976 at Capital Radio, where he threw his
considerable energy into organising outside broadcasts from events like
the Best Disco in Town, where the station’s DJs played to audiences of
2,500 ’disco-mad youths’ at London’s Lyceum .
In 1982 he was recruited as head of publicity to launch TV-am. The channel
was set up in opposition to BBC 1’s Breakfast Time, and James describes
the experience as ’a great blooding’.
The station was in financial crisis almost from day one and chief
executives followed each other in quick succession. ’I became a kind of
corporate memory because there were so many changes.’
In the summer of 1985 Lord Young, then Minister without Portfolio, asked
James to join him as his political adviser. He stayed with him during his
tenures as Secretary of State for Employment and Secretary of State for
Industry.
Then in 1987 his father died. ’It was quite a year. I loved what I was
doing but I felt I wanted to get back into an executive job. As an adviser
in Whitehall you don’t have much resource, you are there to assist your
minister. The civil servants are the real doers,’ he explains.
So he joined Marmaduke Hussey and a new management team at the BBC as
corporate affairs director. At 33, James was the youngest ever director at
the BBC, and his role was one of the most challenging: to defend the
corporation to the Government and its audiences in the face of the charter
renewal debate.
He did not always agree with the way in which reform at the corporation
was introduced, although he believes it produced the necessary
savings.
’I think certain management practices may have been questionable.’
After what he now admits was too brief a stint with Cable and Wireless as
corporate and government affairs director, James returned to the fray at
Westminster.
’John Major seduced me away just two years later. Those opportunities come
your way once in your life. It was a ringside seat in the heart of
Government. You are at the centre of every single debate and
decision.’
However, his was not the most enviable job in politics: he joined Major
just before John Redwood’s 1995 Tory leadership challenge and stayed with
the embattled Prime Minister until his resignation this summer.
He handled links with the Conservatives, wrote speeches and is credited
with improving Major’s Parliamentary performances, particularly during
Prime Minister’s question time. He describes his role as that of an
’orchestrator’.
He stayed with the former Prime Minister until Hague’s election as
leader.
Although Major’s transition was reported as smooth and dignified, James
says the process was more painful than it appeared. ’Handover of power
is difficult on individuals and difficult on families.’
Although his work has put him in touch with many high profile figures,
James has never sought the public eye. Through his home life he keeps
his feet firmly on the ground. ’I’ve got friends who regard all of this
as madness. It’s important to listen to them, or you might end up
believing all the nonsense that goes on around you.’
HIGHLIGHTS
1987 - Head of corporate affairs, BBC
1992 - Director of corporate and government affairs, Cable and Wireless
1994 - Political adviser to John Major
1997 - Founding partner in Brown Lloyd James
