hmmm

020 7269 1430

• Communication
• Legal Business
• Real Estate
• Wealth Management

Georgina Baillie: The Conspiracy Theories

October 31, 2008

There are conspiracy theories, and there is the notion that the prank calls to Andrew Sachs’ answer-phone by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were in fact a set up, calculated to:

1. Boost sales of Brand’s various merchandise, and/or

2. Kick-start Georgina Baillie’s career in pornographic films; and/or

3. Increase BBC ratings once Brand and Ross return to the fray; and/or

4. Propel Andrew Sachs to the front of the queue for a knighthood.

All seem as outlandish as Nihilista, the newspaper devoted to some people called The Satanic Sluts.

But there is another theory doing the rounds. This posits the idea that the media seized upon the Manuelgate story, at the expense of something mundane like the US election, because after weeks of doom and gloom about the credit crunch we all needed a diversion. Indeed, at least one conspiracy theorist goes so far as to say that the BBC (including Lesley Douglas), Ross, Brand, Sachs and Baillie colluded selflessly in a deliberate ploy to lift our spirits. Is this the real truth of Manuelgate – that it was all a set-up, to put a smile on our faces?

We think we should be told. But we fear that the Sunday papers are unlikely to provide enlightenment.

Manuelgate: The 12 Lessons To Be Set In Stone

October 30, 2008

Russell Brand, the man the Daily Mail likes to call “the lewd braggart”, has fallen on his sword over Manuelgate. Meanwhile his partner in crime, Jonathan Ross, awaits his fate, having been suspended by the BBC, while Georgina Ballie is rumoured to be closing a deal with a Sunday tabloid for her story. It’s all quite remarkable, but are there lessons to be learned from the affair? Could any of the protagonists have done things differently?

We think so. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but a modicum of simple, ethically-founded foresight would have served the main players well. Here are 12 Lessons To Be Set In Stone from Manuelgate so far:

1. Be Careful Who You Kiss.

The old saying is that love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop. But in Russell Brand’s case, it seems that sex begins with a smile, grows exponentially (he claims to have slept with over 2,000 women), and ends with indifference. Should Georgina Baillie have been more circumspect before sleeping with the wild-haired Lothario? Perhaps. Then again, she can’t have known that he would choose to broadcast their liaison on BBC radio.

2.  Be A Gentleman.

“Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.” So said Theodore Roosevelt, and the 26th American President’s aphorism remains on the money a century or so after its utterance. If Brand had observed the time-honoured rule that a gentleman never discusses, still less publicises, his amours, he would still have his job with the BBC.

3. Embrace Feminism.

This is one for both Brand and Ross. The pair had evidently discussed Brand’s adventures with Ms Baillie prior to the broadcast (Brand’s first breach of Rule 2), but their subsequent on-air quips about her suggest that both have some way to go before they could claim to be rounded, 21st century men. The talk of Brand having “enjoyed” Baillie “on a swing” wasn’t just as crude as the use of the antecedent F-word; both betrayed the unconscious misogyny still rife in much male discourse.

4. Respect One’s Elders.

Another simple rule, adherence to which would have spared a lot of blushes.

5.  Remember That No Player (Even One As Good As Stan Bowles) Is Greater Than The Team.

History reveals that football managers perennially refuse to be dictated to by great players when they tend too much to prima donna-ism. As yet, we do not know how the calls to Andrew Sachs’ answer-phone were approved for broadcast, but it seems possible that the BBC’s editorial team were cowed by the stellar qualities of the two presenters. All involved would do well to note that they are part of a team which, like all teams (whether on the football pitch or elsewhere), will only succeed if it plays by the rules.

6. Make Sure Everyone Knows The Rules.

It’s no good taking to the field if some of the players don’t know the manager’s formation.  What was the BBC’s pre-publication policy with regard to gags which might infringe a third party’s privacy? Did Brand and Ross even know?

7. Use Your Lawyer.

The BBC has a phalanx of highly trained media lawyers whose expertise lies precisely in assessing legal risk pre-broadcast.  It seems unlikely that one was consulted in this instance, given what prima facie amounts to a clear invasion of Ms Baillie’s privacy. If ever there was a time and a place for measured legal advice, this was it.

8. Act Quickly. Act Decisively. Above All, Act.

Even if all the foregoing rules are observed, mistakes can still happen. We wouldn’t be human otherwise. Once the complaints started to roll in and Fleet Street wheeled out its big guns, the BBC should have announced that an investigation was underway as a priority and suspended the two men at the centre of the storm. Instead, they procrastinated, thereby allowing the story to gain momentum. Within hours of Brand’s resignation, the media had started to turn, questioning whether it had all gone too far; prompt action by the BBC might have produced the same result, but with the possibility that its stars could, in due course, return to the fray. The BBC’s dithering amounts to a gross breach of one of the first rules of crisis management: act quickly and decisively, and above all, do something.

9.  When You’re In The Wrong, Admit It.

More procrastination here, as Brand and Ross were too slow to acknowledge their mistakes. An already pronounced sense that they might be cursed with a dose of hubris only intensified as they, like their employer, dithered.

10.  When You Get Knocked Down, Get Up Again.

Brand and Ross will be feeling somewhat battered. However, if they are prepared to learn from their mistakes, there is no reason why the pair won’t continue to blossom in the contemporary media landscape. They should, however, pay heed to the famous exhortation of ‘Gentleman’ Jim Corbett, the legendary heavyweight boxer of the early 20th century: Fight one more round, when your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round, when your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round – remembering that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped.

11. If You’re Going To Deal With The Devil, Ask For Max.

Which Sunday newspaper has done a deal with Georgina Baillie? Has she indeed gone down this route, or is she contemplating suing for invasion of privacy and then selling her story? All will soon be revealed, but in retaining Max Clifford, she’s obtained the assistance of a man who knows the dark arts of Fleet Street better than anyone.

12. Have The Dignity Of Andrew Sachs.

The veteran Fawlty Towers star has been an exemplar of dignity, restraint and courtesy. He was amenable to the media at the same time as he supported his granddaughter; he played down the effect of the prank calls on his own feelings and is writing letters to Ross and Brand thanking them for their own, somewhat belated, missives. He says he hopes that Brand will move forward, turning this disaster into a positive, and we believe him. Why?

Because, unlike Brand and Ross, he’s a gentleman.

The Ross-Brand Affair: should Georgina Baillie sue for privacy?

October 29, 2008

As all newspapers, but especially this one, report today, BBC Director-General Mark Thompson has suspended Russell Brand and the similarly gifted Jonathan Ross over the duo’s prank phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs. A “full investigation” will now be launched against a backdrop of an unprecedented number of complaints and the ire of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Before hazarding a guess at where all this is going, it is curious to note that some people believe that Mr Sachs’ granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, was “fair game” for victimisation by Brand from the moment she slept with him. He’s a rat, this reasoning goes, so what could she expect? Of course he would mock and betray her, because that’s what Russell Brand does. Into the bargain, she’s a member of a burlesque troupe called the Satanic Sluts, so all the more reason for her to have forfeited any right to privacy. You need only to scroll through the hundreds of comments on all papers’ websites to see this view aired with depressing regularity.

As yet, the precise details of the Brand-Baillie liaison have not been published. The sensitive, discreet Brand might well favour us with edification in due course, but until he does, it seems reasonable to assume that Ms Baillie did not sign a waiver of all rights prior to her liaison with Brand. As we know from the infamous Mosley judgment, the courts today take a dim view of the disclosure of consensual sexual relations, even those with prostitutes. It is difficult, if not impossible, to see the public interest in the Brand-Ross revelation that Brand had slept with Ms Baillie. In short, she wasn’t “fair game.”

So could Ms Baillie sue Brand for invasion of privacy? Her advisor, Max Clifford, is surely contemplating precisely this avenue. But if a claim were made, it wouldn’t merely be against Brand: it would be against the BBC, too, which is vicariously liable for the acts of its presenters.

So, as to where all this is going, it might just be to the Royal Courts of Justice. The BBC will be praying that Ms Baillie doesn’t launch proceedings, because if she does, keeping Brand and Ross on the payroll will be very hard indeed.

Next Page »