John Underwood (PR adviser)
Encyclopedia
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, including many editions of After Dark. He was Director of Communications for the British Labour Party from June 1990 to June 1991.
He hit the news in November 2006 for being behind an "independent" report that recommended the closure of a popular Hertfordshire hospital, in line with government policy. He was again in the news in January 2008 for setting up the mysterious Progressive Policies Forum
Progressive Policies Forum
The Progressive Policies Forum is a political organization, set up by British Labour Party adviser John Underwood, that channelled funds of over £50,000 to Peter Hain's campaign in the May 2007 Labour Party Deputy Leadership contest...
, an organization with no employees and apparently engaged in no activity other than channelling funds to the election campaign of Peter Hain
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in 2007.