Evening Standard: Profile - Ian Monk, celebrity PR
By David Rowan
HAD things gone differently this week, Carole Caplin would have been preparing for a busy day tomorrow meeting two TV production companies, a national television broadcaster, a publishing house, and, time allowing, executives from a health farm. As it is, the 41-year-old "lifestyle guru" to the Blairs has put on hold her commercial ambitions after a spectacular public falling-out with her business manager and PR agent, Ian Monk. Normally, PRs avoid letting themselves become part of the story. But caught between Caplin and the No 10 spin machine, Monk has emerged from the shadows, fighting to save his own reputation as a celebrity spinner to rival Max Clifford.
Monk will not admit that it was his doing, of course, but somehow on Monday his resignation letter to Caplin reached the Press Association. By having friends brief the press, Monk wrote, she had "made what has always been a difficult job for me impossible". In line with her "changing personal and professional agenda", she had clouded potential business deals he had arranged which, according to press reports, included a tell-all book about the Blairs rumoured to be worth up to £1 million.
Caplin denied through her lawyer that she had ever planned to write such a book, but the damage had been done. Monk was not prepared to be spun against - especially if he could milk the ensuing publicity to promote his consultancy.
Some have called Monk "the new Max Clifford" for his wide influence in Fleet Street and a growing roster of clients ranging from TV celebrities to company directors caught up in scandals. He winces at the comparison, seeing himself as a far more upmarket media operator. "I do hope he's not the next Max Clifford," says his former colleague and friend, the PR Brian MacLaurin. "I don't believe that the Max Clifford style of PR represents what he does. It's just that Ian's got this incredible ability to maximise coverage and manage the flow of news - and with the media being such a powerful animal these days, you need powerful animals on your side who know how journalists bite." A former executive on the Daily Mail, the Express and The Sun, Monk, approaching 50, has earned respect among journalists for his tenacity, his steeliness and his ability to understand their needs.
"He's very dedicated to his clients, and he knows how celebrity-driven papers work," says one tabloid executive. Others grumble that he plays papers off against each other, so his " exclusives" sometimes appear in more than one place, but they accept that he has his clients' interests at heart. "I don't always like the way he spins, but he is a skilful operator," says a showbusiness writer.
Monk always wanted to work in Fleet Street. After graduating from Bristol University he started at the Bucks Free Press and, by the age of 24, was at the Daily Mail. After three years as a reporter on the Star, the Mail poached him to run its foreign news desk and he rose to be executive editor.
It was as deputy editor of the Express in 1996 that Monk's reputation sustained a damaging blow. His wife was arrested in possession of a prepublication copy of a biography of the Duchess of York, allegedly with the intention of offering it for sale to The Sun to spoil a Daily Mail serialisation. The couple had to pay £125 each in damages and faced £60,000 in costs, and Monk lost his job. He still regrets the incident.
BRIAN MacLaurin then tempted him to join him as a PR, representing clients such as Chris Tarrant. When the business was sold for £6 million two years ago, Monk made a six-figure sum. In his new venture, Ian Monk Associates, he represents celebrities such as Claire Sweeney and Ruthie Henshall, and corporate clients including Hachette UK.
"He's the Daily Mail to Max's News of the World," says Mark Borkowski, another celebrity PR. "But because of his Fleet Street connections, his A-list clients will be slightly nervous about whether he'll ring up an old mate if there's a great story. Can you take the journalist out of the PR man?"
His next task is to stop people thinking of him as the man who represented Carole Caplin. They were introduced last November, just as the "Cheriegate" scandal was breaking over Cherie Blair's relationship with Peter Foster, Caplin's former boyfriend (whom Monk does not represent). The arrangement began well: Caplin saw huge commercial opportunities in identifying herself as Cherie's "life coach" and Tony's fashion adviser, and agreed that Monk would be paid a fifth of all she earned. Monk explored options ranging from fitness videos and her £70,000 contract with The Mail on Sunday, to a series of books. He claims that Caplin was intending to write an autobiography featuring health and fitness advice, rather than a damaging inside view of No 10.
After stories leaked last weekend that Caplin had been banned from the Blair household, her "friends" were quoted explaining that she felt betrayed and was keen to tell her story in a book. Monk insists that he expressed none of these sentiments, and suspects Downing Street of placing the stories to make Caplin think that he was briefing against her.
Blair's entourage had, he believes, decided to keep her on the inside rather than let her cause damage in the company of Monk, known for his Conservative politics.
Monk still likes Caplin, whom he sees as loyal, often naive and occasionally misused. He does not believe that she will now sell her story. But if she does escape Downing Street's clutches, he may well be available to reschedule those business meetings.
(Evening Standard, September 17 2003)
HAD things gone differently this week, Carole Caplin would have been preparing for a busy day tomorrow meeting two TV production companies, a national television broadcaster, a publishing house, and, time allowing, executives from a health farm. As it is, the 41-year-old "lifestyle guru" to the Blairs has put on hold her commercial ambitions after a spectacular public falling-out with her business manager and PR agent, Ian Monk. Normally, PRs avoid letting themselves become part of the story. But caught between Caplin and the No 10 spin machine, Monk has emerged from the shadows, fighting to save his own reputation as a celebrity spinner to rival Max Clifford.
Monk will not admit that it was his doing, of course, but somehow on Monday his resignation letter to Caplin reached the Press Association. By having friends brief the press, Monk wrote, she had "made what has always been a difficult job for me impossible". In line with her "changing personal and professional agenda", she had clouded potential business deals he had arranged which, according to press reports, included a tell-all book about the Blairs rumoured to be worth up to £1 million.
Caplin denied through her lawyer that she had ever planned to write such a book, but the damage had been done. Monk was not prepared to be spun against - especially if he could milk the ensuing publicity to promote his consultancy.
Some have called Monk "the new Max Clifford" for his wide influence in Fleet Street and a growing roster of clients ranging from TV celebrities to company directors caught up in scandals. He winces at the comparison, seeing himself as a far more upmarket media operator. "I do hope he's not the next Max Clifford," says his former colleague and friend, the PR Brian MacLaurin. "I don't believe that the Max Clifford style of PR represents what he does. It's just that Ian's got this incredible ability to maximise coverage and manage the flow of news - and with the media being such a powerful animal these days, you need powerful animals on your side who know how journalists bite." A former executive on the Daily Mail, the Express and The Sun, Monk, approaching 50, has earned respect among journalists for his tenacity, his steeliness and his ability to understand their needs.
"He's very dedicated to his clients, and he knows how celebrity-driven papers work," says one tabloid executive. Others grumble that he plays papers off against each other, so his " exclusives" sometimes appear in more than one place, but they accept that he has his clients' interests at heart. "I don't always like the way he spins, but he is a skilful operator," says a showbusiness writer.
Monk always wanted to work in Fleet Street. After graduating from Bristol University he started at the Bucks Free Press and, by the age of 24, was at the Daily Mail. After three years as a reporter on the Star, the Mail poached him to run its foreign news desk and he rose to be executive editor.
It was as deputy editor of the Express in 1996 that Monk's reputation sustained a damaging blow. His wife was arrested in possession of a prepublication copy of a biography of the Duchess of York, allegedly with the intention of offering it for sale to The Sun to spoil a Daily Mail serialisation. The couple had to pay £125 each in damages and faced £60,000 in costs, and Monk lost his job. He still regrets the incident.
BRIAN MacLaurin then tempted him to join him as a PR, representing clients such as Chris Tarrant. When the business was sold for £6 million two years ago, Monk made a six-figure sum. In his new venture, Ian Monk Associates, he represents celebrities such as Claire Sweeney and Ruthie Henshall, and corporate clients including Hachette UK.
"He's the Daily Mail to Max's News of the World," says Mark Borkowski, another celebrity PR. "But because of his Fleet Street connections, his A-list clients will be slightly nervous about whether he'll ring up an old mate if there's a great story. Can you take the journalist out of the PR man?"
His next task is to stop people thinking of him as the man who represented Carole Caplin. They were introduced last November, just as the "Cheriegate" scandal was breaking over Cherie Blair's relationship with Peter Foster, Caplin's former boyfriend (whom Monk does not represent). The arrangement began well: Caplin saw huge commercial opportunities in identifying herself as Cherie's "life coach" and Tony's fashion adviser, and agreed that Monk would be paid a fifth of all she earned. Monk explored options ranging from fitness videos and her £70,000 contract with The Mail on Sunday, to a series of books. He claims that Caplin was intending to write an autobiography featuring health and fitness advice, rather than a damaging inside view of No 10.
After stories leaked last weekend that Caplin had been banned from the Blair household, her "friends" were quoted explaining that she felt betrayed and was keen to tell her story in a book. Monk insists that he expressed none of these sentiments, and suspects Downing Street of placing the stories to make Caplin think that he was briefing against her.
Blair's entourage had, he believes, decided to keep her on the inside rather than let her cause damage in the company of Monk, known for his Conservative politics.
Monk still likes Caplin, whom he sees as loyal, often naive and occasionally misused. He does not believe that she will now sell her story. But if she does escape Downing Street's clutches, he may well be available to reschedule those business meetings.
(Evening Standard, September 17 2003)
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, September 17, 2003
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