Portland Communications

Portland Communications Ltd is a political consultancy and public relations agency set up in 2001 by Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Director of Communications at BSkyB. In 2012 a majority stake in Portland was purchased by Omnicom.

Portland provides communications and public affairs advice to brands and high-profile individuals. Portland's website states that "Our team is recruited from the highest levels of the media, politics and government."

As of January 2016, Portland partners include the former political editor of The Sun, George Pascoe-Watson,Mark Flanagan and Labour candidate Kevin McKeever.

In January 2012 Portland Communications hired James O'Shaughnessy, Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of policy, as Chief Policy Advisor. The Independent reported that O'Shaughnessy failed to inform the Whitehall committee which vets jobs for officials leaving Government, which was described by Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee of Standards in Public Life, as a "serious error of judgement". Portland also employed Cameron's former Press Secretary, George Eustice. O'Shaughnessy was elevated to the peerage in 2015.

Current and previous clients include the British Bankers' Association,Tullow Oil,BTA Bank and AB InBev on behalf of its Stella Artois brand.