Brown has worked with the council since November last year when his team was appointed to handle the much-vaunted ‘City in Transition’ PR task.

Since that time it appears as if a strong bond has been forged between agency and client, with the outcome being that Brown is now stepping into the role ‘vacated’ by Matthew Finnegan in 2006.

The job is on a part-time basis for six months only, after which time the council will assess the need, or lack of it, to once again appoint a full-time communications director.

Finnegan: the previous incumbent

“I think it’s going to take up two to three days a week,” he commented. “We’re recruiting a PR professional (unnamed as yet) who’s going to relocate from London and help with the business here, and there’s a host of freelancers that we can call on too.”

“I wouldn’t have taken the role on if I thought I couldn’t manage it,” he added.

Local industry observers will undoubtedly see more than the imminent balancing act as being of interest though, perhaps calling into question his close relationship with the local media and the potential overlap with the existing ‘city in transition’ task.

Brown insisted that the latter issue was of little consequence, as his colleague Kieran Joglekar is primarily charged with the delivery of that assignment - “we’ve drawn a line and clearly differentiated the tasks, so there’ll be no overlap.”

However, he conceded that the press relationship question was a little trickier.

Mouths are already flapping on Merseyside that Brown may be ‘too cosy’ with the local press.

This, for the uninitiated, stems from his previous role as deputy editor of the Liverpool Echo and his wife Jane’s, also a director of Factory, former position as editor of The Daily Post.

Brown is literally, locally, as well connected as they come, counting many of the city’s leading journos as ‘close personal friends’.

This begs the question that is this therefore the end of – or at least a six-month hiatus from – negative LCC stories appearing in the city’s two prominent dailies? Is there a danger of the buddy system tinkering with the press process?

Brown has friends in high places

“There’s no suggestion at all that I can twirl the press here around my little finger,” Brown imparted.

“It’s a real, a key advantage having the relationships that I do with a lot of the city’s senior journalists – being fortunate enough to count many of them as friends as well as ex-colleagues.

“Yes it helps; it helps gain an audience, have a conversation and hopefully be trusted. But it doesn’t solve issues and there’s going to be absolutely no advantageous treatment.

“The journalists here are a lot more professional than that,” Brown stressed, “so stories won’t get swept under the carpet.”

The Factory MD becomes Liverpool City Council’s communications director on Friday and, despite the extra workload, is optimistic about the coming half-year.

“Liverpool’s such an interesting patch at the moment,” he concluded. “There’s so much going on here.

“I see this as a genuine, no bullshit, real opportunity for my own personal and professional development and I’m very much looking forward to getting stuck in.”

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