Max Clifford: My job is protecting my clients

Annabel wrote:http://www.prweek.com/uk/channel/ConsumerEntertainment/article/1058008/max-clifford-job-protecting-clients/

Max Clifford: My job is protecting my clients


David Singleton, prweek.com, 02 March 2011, 2:24pm


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PR guru Max Clifford claims his business has become less focused on promotion and more about protecting clients such as Simon Cowell from the media


At an event hosted by the Association of Business Schools last week, the PR guru told the audience: ‘My business is promotion and protection. When I started out it was mainly promotion. Increasingly, it’s protection.’

On pop mogul Cowell, he said: ‘In the past five years, 95 per cent is protecting him from the exc-esses of journalists. If you do an interview, most of the journalists will write something that’s nothing to do with the interview because they have their own agenda.’

Clifford also spoke about representing Robert Murat, the Algarve-based property consultant who was falsely suspected of involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007: ‘The British media destroyed him… He was almost suicidal, he didn’t have any money but I took him on.’

Clifford helped Murat to win an estimated £600,000 in libel settlements, mostly involving tabloid newspapers. ‘When it goes right it’s imm-ensely satisfying, as it was with Robert Murat,’ he said.

The well known publicist is currently handling PR for Shrien Dewani, the man acc-used of ordering the murder of his wife during their honeymoon in South Africa. Clifford said he had recently received death threats over his involvement in the case, but he strongly believed Dewani was innocent. ‘I’m 100 per cent convinced it’s untrue, without any foundation at all.’

Clifford also spoke out about Prime Minister David Cameron’s Big Society initiative, appearing to agree with criticism that it is merely a cover for the Government’s cuts. The PR guru said: ‘I think this whole Big Society is a PR exercise because a lot of people are going to be struggling.’

He was also quizzed over the make-up of his agency, Max Clifford Associates.

He said: ‘There have been a few lads over the years. They tend to be attractive ladies
for some reason. I don’t know why.’

Related links:

http://www.mccannfiles.com/id232.html

Panda wrote:
Wasn"t there some talk that Max Clifford was furious because Murat went to someone else before the Award.? Yes Marky, I bet Clifford knows quite a lot and he should also know if the Murat charge against Tanner ever gets to Court.

A_T wrote:It was said that Clifford would not touch the Gruesome Twosome

A_T wrote:It was said that Clifford would not touch the Gruesome Twosome

lifeisforliving wrote:

A_T wrote:It was said that Clifford would not touch the Gruesome Twosome

So we know who actually said that?

flower wrote:

lifeisforliving wrote:

A_T wrote:It was said that Clifford would not touch the Gruesome Twosome

So we know who actually said that?

I don't know who said that - if they did................. But would you trust him??................... Unless you had a grisly secret to keep??!!.....................

lifeisforliving wrote:

flower wrote:

lifeisforliving wrote:

A_T wrote:It was said that Clifford would not touch the Gruesome Twosome

So we know who actually said that?

I don't know who said that - if they did................. But would you trust him??................... Unless you had a grisly secret to keep??!!.....................

Of course I wouldn't trust Max Clifford or any other PR person (unless I was paying them and even then I would be wary) but it would be interesting to know if there is any evidence that he did say that. If there is then it would be very significant I think.

The Famous Grouse wrote:quite. why would the truth need to be "spun"?

Max Clifford arrested on suspicion of sexual offences
One of UK's best known publicists arrested by officers investigating abuse claims against Jimmy Savile and others
Max Clifford, one of the best known publicists in Britain, has been arrested by officers investigating sexual abuse claims against Jimmy Savile and others.

The Metropolitan police said on Thursday morning that officers working on Operation Yewtree arrested "a man in his sixties" at his Surrey home at 7.04am "on suspicion of sexual offences".

Clifford, 69, is the arrestee. He has been taken to a central London police station for questioning.

He is the fifth person to be arrested since the investigation was launched following revelations that Savile had abused underage girls both at the BBC and several hospitals including Stoke Mandeville and Leeds General Infirmary.

Clifford's lawyer, Charlotte Harris, said: "Max Clifford is being interviewed by police. He will assist police as best he can with their inquiries. When we are in a position to provide further information we will."

Scotland Yard refused to comment on the identity of the arrestee, but in a statement said: "The individual falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed 'others'."

The singer Gary Glitter, comedian Freddie Starr and DJ Dave Lee Travis are three of those previously arrested and bailed in the Met probe. The former BBC producer Wilfred De'Ath was also arrested and bailed.

They were classified as falling under the "others" strand of the investigation. A man in his 80s was interviewed under caution and released on 29 November.

There are three strands to Operation Yewtree: "Savile", "Savile and others" and "others".

"Savile and others" relates to alleged offences in which the former Jim'll Fix It host was suspected of being involved; "others" relates to allegations being investigated by Operation Yewtree, but do not involve Savile.

Clifford, who built his PR business Max Clifford Associates out of celebrity-kiss-and-tell deals with the tabloids, has represented some of the country's best known stars including Simon Cowell, cyclist Chris Hoy and Jade Goody.

When the Savile revelations first emerged, Clifford said dozens of big-name stars from the 1960s and 1970s had contacted him because they were "frightened to death" they were going to be implicated.