Philip Gould, Baron Gould of Brookwood

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Philip Gould, Baron Gould of Brookwood (born March 30, 1950 in Beddington , † November 6, 2011 in London ) was a British politician and former advertising manager. He was a political consultant ( consultant ) and policy and election advisor to the Labor Party in the British general election in 1987 , 1992 , 1997 , 2001 and 2005 .

Life

Family and education

Gould grew up in Woking , where his father was the headmaster. He failed his 11-plus exam and attended a Secondary Modern School , the Knaphill Secondary Modern School . Both parents were politically center-left and his maternal grandmother, an artist who came from the Netherlands , was communist- oriented. He left school at the age of 16 with a GCE Ordinary Level ( General Certificate of Education ) and initially worked for a construction company. He then went back to school and attended East London College at Toynbee Hall , where he obtained four advanced levels . From 1971 he studied political science at the University of Sussex , where he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1974 . Gould then attended the London School of Economics (LSE), where he graduated in 1976 with a Master of Science (MSc) in the subject of "History of Political Thought". He was supervised by the political scientist Michael Oakeshott at the LSE . He later returned to the LSE as a visiting professor . He received another diploma from the London Business School .

Career

After completing his studies, Gould initially worked in the advertising industry. From 1979 to 1981, Gould was a director of Tinker and Partners . He was the founding director of Brignull LeBas Gould from 1981 to 1983 . In 1985 he was Management Director of Doyle Dane Bernbach .

In 1985 he founded the consulting firm Philip Gould Associates with his wife Gail Reck (later CEO of Random House UK ), whom he had met at the University of Sussex ; He initially ran this agency, specializing in political and strategic advice for parties, from home. During this time he met the Labor politician Peter Mandelson at a dinner party .

Appointed by Mandelson, Gould put together the Shadow Communications Agency for the Labor Party, with which the 1987 general election campaign was carried out for the Labor Party . This led Gould to an influential position within the Labor Party under Neil Kinnock and Tony Blair . He rejected ideological arguments. As in the US, he replaced opinion polls with political “focus groups,” a group of up to 20 voters who discussed matters during a two-hour session. Blair praised him for giving more clarity to his conference speeches. He was involved in changing the party's emblem. In 1990 he advised Daniel Ortega in the presidential election in the same year, which was defeated in the election. With traditionally positioned parts of the party, he was considered unpopular. Often they accused him of being responsible for the party's close association with spin doctors . He also came under fire from allies at times. After Labor lost the general election in 1992 , he came under fire. During the brief leadership of the party by John Smith , Gould faded into the background. He then went to the United States for some time to advise Bill Clinton . In 1995, a memo by Goulds went public shortly before the TUC (Trades Union Congress) conference. It said Labor was not yet ready for government responsibilities again.

On Gould's advice, Blair chose "calm down, calm down" as the motto of the 1997 campaign. After winning the general election in 1997 , Gould teamed up with James Carville , who had previously advised Bill Clinton. With this he founded a transatlantic consultancy. As a result, he again took on a more important role in the party.

After the publication of his book The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labor Party (1998), he proposed the amalgamation of Labor and the Liberal Democrats with the aim of uniting all anti-conservative forces in Britain. This, he said, should enable the establishment of a “progressive century”, a century “in which progressive politics can establish itself and in which the vast majority of working people receive help and support ... not every now and then, but regularly ”, In contrast to the previous“ conservative century ”.

He also admitted to having given some memos to the public himself to demonstrate his influence. He was the author of a leaked memo describing New Labor as "contaminated" in 2000.

Membership in the House of Lords

Gould was named Life Peer as Baron Gould of Brookwood, of Brookwood in the County of Surrey on June 7, 2004 . His official introduction to the House of Lords took place on July 19, 2004. He gave his inaugural address on November 29, 2004.

On the website of the House of Lords, he named security policy and education policy as topics of political interest . He spoke at the House of Lords on bills on racism , the introduction of ID cards , the relationship between voters and parliament , the BBC's charter , terrorism and the Education and Inspections Bill .

On July 18, 2006, he last spoke up there. He last participated in a vote on October 12, 2011.

Gould was initially relatively regularly present in the House of Lords from 2004. In comparison, his presence was overall in the middle range. Presumably due to illness, there were considerable fluctuations in his presence. From 2008 onwards, the number of meeting days decreased significantly.

Other offices

In Freud Communications Gould, 2008 was Deputy Chairman ( Deputy Chairman ). He was a member of the Trustee of the Royal Parks Foundation and a member of the Advisory Board of Pepsico .

Sickness and death

In 2008, Gould was diagnosed with esophageal cancer . After undergoing chemotherapy and surgery, he returned to politics in early 2010. Shortly before an interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC TV program on September 18, 2011, it was revealed that treatment for cancer , which had recurring three times, had been unsuccessful and that he had only a few months to live. He discussed this extensively in the interview. Shortly before his death, he wrote an autobiographical book called When I Die .

He died on November 6, 2011 at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London . His marriage to Gail Rebuck had two daughters, Grace and Georgia. Tony Blair , Cherie Blair , Gordon Brown , Sarah Brown , Ed Miliband , David Miliband , Peter Mandelson , Neil Kinnock , Glenys Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead , Jack Straw and Yvette Cooper attended his memorial service on November 15, 2011 .

Publications

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Labor peer Philip Gould has died aged 61 articles on BBC News on November 7, 2011
  2. ^ A b c Lord Gould of Brookwood obituary in: The Daily Telegraph, November 7, 2011, accessed December 10, 2011
  3. ↑ New memo leak hits Blair article on BBC News on July 19, 2000
  4. ^ Minutes and Order Paper - Minutes of Proceedings Minutes of the House of Lords meeting of July 19, 2004
  5. ↑ House of Lords: Members 'expenses Members' expenses on the House of Lords website , accessed December 4, 2011
  6. ↑ Senior Labor figures attend Philip Gould's funeral article in The Guardian of November 15, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Gould, Philip, Baron Gould of Brookwood
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician (Labor Party)
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Beddington , South London
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 2011
Place of death London