I then spoke to Adam Powell, Senior Director at Ogilvy PR. He fired over an email, laying out a pretty comprehensive plan:"No comment" can come across quite badly and can be seen as a tacit acceptance of allegations. Given the nature of the allegations made against the Prime Minister, it's important his team issued as strongly worded a denial as possible. They will also need to establish what, if any, other accusations might be made within the book so they can be ready to respond to these as well. But any statement has to be carefully worded. If it emerges that even part of the allegations could be substantiated, a very strongly worded denial could lead to accusations of lying and would prolong the story.
Sounds pretty comprehensive. Finally, I spoke to Terence Fane-Saunders, Chairman of Chelgate Public Relations. He told me:There has not been an outright denial from No.10—instead, the oblique description that "we don't recognize" the account is used, which is never convincing.
Labour and [the] left-wing media will be making as much mischief as possible to try to undermine Cameron and buy [Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn some time to sort out his own shop.
The next steps for No.10, which I am sure they are all over, are, in brief: understand risks, prepare responses, stick to agreed lines, and don't dance to others' tune, close story down, and move media agenda on.
In more detail:
1) Someone needs to sit down with David Cameron and discover exactly what happened and how much truth there is to this story, if any. An uncomfortable, tough, but necessary conversation.
2) Then create a response plan for the worst-case scenarios, which could include, if stories are true, that pictures exist or others can come out of the woodwork and confirm the story.
3) In meantime, avoid responding to drip-feed of questions from gleeful media. Stick to prepared lines designed to close down the story. This also includes a line for PMQs [Prime Minister's Questions].
4) Tone is all-important in all of this. Needs to avoid "plumminess," not be arrogant or defensive.
5) Adopt "business as usual approach" and portray Cameron in a prime ministerial light. Find topics, carefully selected photo-ops and meetings to demonstrate authority and leadership.
6) Portray story as something that is very low on the priority list. Also, where possible, question the motives of the "unnamed source."
7) Think very carefully about any photo-ops or similar events which may backfire and give the media and social media users the opportunity to ridicule PM or revive the story.
This will be thrown at DC for the remainder of his political career in the same way as the Bullingdon Club photo has been and will be. Key is to be aware of risks and plan how to best close down quickly and move on without compromising Cameron in short or long-term. If I was in No.10, I'd be trying to move the agenda onto bigger issues about the future of the country, not events from 30 years ago.
So there you have it: expert advice from a group of experts about what to do if you ever find yourself in the position Cameron has found himself in today.Follow Sirin on Twitter.Cameron [should] not have used "does not recognize" as a response. That is too well established as a PR wriggle sometimes used by people who can't actually look you in the eye and say it's a pack of lies.
His best strategy will be to say as little as possible. Let the media, political opponents, others have their fun. It will pass. Maybe not a seven-day wonder. Perhaps 70 days. The lasting impression will simply be that Cameron may have been fairly wild when he was a student. Um, thank God! The thought that he might have always been a squeaky clean and shiny "head boy" type all his life would be too depressing to think about. Most of us did wild, tasteless, stupid things at uni. Then we grew up. We expect to be judged as we are, not as we were.