JUST when the media was turning its attention to the level of its own reporting of the sudden resignation of Steven Purcell, as leader of Glasgow City Council, one of the key players in the saga was reported heading for the Cayman Islands.
Now we know why Jack Irvine – head of Scottish PR giants, Media House International – was not in Scotland three weeks or so ago: he’s teaming up with President Clinton’s former Counsel, Jack Quinn, to deliver a lecture at a major conference in Grand Cayman.
Irvine had been appointed by Purcell to handle the PR surrounding his resignation.
The Two Jacks are speaking early next month at the inaugural conference of Cayman Finance, the industry body representing the island’s financial community. And Irvine was most recently in the Cayman Islands to tie up loose ends, about the conference organisation.
Quinn is the co-founder of Washington DC-based Quinn Gillespie & Associates, considered one of the capital’s leading legislative, political and communications consultancies. He served as President Clinton’s Counsel from 1995 to 1997 and before that was Vice President Al Gore’s Chief of Staff.
Irvine and Quinn were both hired in April last year to counter accusations that the Cayman Islands are a shady tax haven.
Says Irvine: “Thanks to a combination of Hollywood and high tax supporters in the Labour Party it was all too easy for the UK media to characterise Cayman as a refuge for vagabonds. However, after a lot of hard work on both sides of the Atlantic, journalists are now starting to realise the vital role Cayman plays in The City of London and Wall Street.
“Indeed, it is now acknowledged that had it not been for the billions of dollars that flowed out of Cayman’s coffers to support the ailing world markets last year our respective economies would be in a much more disastrous state.”
