THE miners’ union at the centre of a multimillion-pound police inquiry retains an expensive PR firm which has been used by Michael Jackson, to defend its reputation.

The Union of Democratic Mineworkers is represented by Bell Yard Communications, which specialises in litigation cases.

Certain UDM officials and employees are under investigation for their handling of the world’s largest industrial compensation scheme, a £7.5 billion payout to miners for industrial illnesses.

Fraud squad detectives are investigating how officials benefited from the compensation scheme after the union signed an exclusive deal with the Department of Trade and Industry in 1999 to handle miners’ claims.

All inquiries to the UDM are being handled by Bell Yard, the firm engaged to rescue Michael Jackson’s reputation after Martin Bashir’s television documentary on him.

The case is being personally handled by Richard Elsen, a co-founder and director of Bell Yard and a former deputy head of the Labour Party’s “rebuttal and attack” media team based at Millbank during the 1997 election under Peter Mandelson.

Mr Elsen declined to say yesterday how much money the contract with the UDM was worth but industry insiders say that he could charge £300 to £400 an hour for his expertise.

One insider said: “It is not unusual for troubled organisations to bring in crisis PR support but it might come as a surprise to the UDM membership to learn that some of their subs are going to a former new Labour spin- doctor.”

Mr Elsen, who handled the Jackson dispute with Granada Media Group, said: “All we are doing is conveying what the UDM is doing. It is clear that they have said they will co- operate fully with the inquiry. Whatever South Yorkshire Police need will be given to them in a timely manner.

“All we are doing for the UDM is what we do for any client in the UDM’s situation, which is to represent them and put their responses to serious allegations.”

Bell Yard has not worked for Jackson since the furore over the Bashir documentary and was not involved in the recent child abuse court case in the United States. Mr Elsen used Jackson’s full video footage of Bashir’s interviews to show that the presenter at times praised the singer. On its website, the company says that “our expertise is public reputation management during times of corporate crisis or dispute”.

It adds: “Our crisis and reputation management practice centres on rapid situation appraisal together with thorough identification of lines of command.

“We work at the direction of clients’ lawyers, in close conjunction with clients’ senior management, their in-house PR and with counsel. These mandates often require restraint rather than pro-active external engagement: knowing when to contain an issue is as valuable as understanding when to tackle, or indeed initiate, press interest.”

Its clients have included Elite Model Management, when it was fighting claims in the BBC documentary series Macintyre Undercover, and Franklin Mint, in its dispute with the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund over memorabilia rights.

Stephanie Villalba, the City banker behind Britain’s biggest sex-discrimination case, hired the company. It has also represented Nike UK and Tommy Hilfiger Europe, the latter in a media assault on Tesco’s “rip-off Britain” campaign.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth