The Liberal Democrats’ candidate for Mayor of London, Susan Kramer,
has brought Charlotte Barraclough, a consultant at the Rowland Company,
on board as media relations manager for her campaign.
Working within a flat management structure, Barraclough is the most
senior of three PROs and will report directly to Kramer.
The election for mayor of London takes place next May. According to
Kramer, who has a team of three now in place, the Liberal Democrat
campaign will begin in earnest at the start of January.
’At the moment we are doing preparatory work and strategy. When the
campaign swings into action next year, it will include high street walks
as part of an integrated communications campaign,’ she said.
Barraclough had worked at Rowland for five years as an account manager
in the corporate and public affairs divisions, advising clients such as
the European Commission.
Prior to Barraclough’s appointment, PR for Kramer’s campaign had been
the responsibility of the Liberal Democrats’ London regional office,
together with the press office at the party’s head office, where PR is
the responsibility of media communications director David Walter.
In total, Kramer has a campaign team of ten. While PR is the
responsibility of Barraclough, the logistics behind the campaign are
dealt with by campaign manager Ashley Lumsden.
Kramer was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate last summer,
wining 62 per cent of the final nomination ballot.
A management consultant, she beat off three rivals in a ballot of 10,000
London party members. The other contenders were: Keith Kerr, an NHS
trust chairman and BA general manager of customer services; Donnachadh
McCarthy, a former manager of Islington Chamber of Commerce, and Mike
Tuffey, a Lambeth councillor and former GLC member.