CARLISLE’S Labour parliamentary candidate has been criticised for concealing her involvement with a disgraced PR firm known for reputation laundering.

In today’s edition of the Private Eye, it was claimed that Julie Minns worked at ‘director-level’ at lobbying firm Bell Pottinger in 2014. 

The firm is known to have represented the Gupta family with the firm accused of using tactics of stirring up racial divisions to help high-profile clients.

The Gupta family faced backlash for profiting from South Africa’s president at the time, Jacob Zuma.

The scandal led to the firm's closure in 2017. 

The current affairs magazine revealed that Minns had removed her involvement with the company from her CV and substituted a different company name, ‘Communications Consultancy’, which in turn reportedly linked to a 'non-existent' company. 

The Labour parliamentary candidate said she was not a ‘director’ of the firm and only worked part-time, with her online profile now being amended. 

“I was unaware that it linked to a company and used Communications Consultancy as a generic term. This has now been corrected on my profile," she said.

“I worked part-time for the consultancy, was not a director and left over a year before its closure.

“In a 30 year career I have worked for some of the UK’s largest charities and leading providers of essential services, helping further the rights of disabled people and shaping regulation to protect vulnerable consumers - experience and understanding that confirms my view that we need a government that will both protect the most vulnerable and give business the consistency and confidence they need in order to invest and grow our economy, something Rishi Sunak has proven he is incapable of doing,” she said.

Carlisle’s Green Party Parliamentary candidate Gavin Hawkton said: "At the next General Election, we need to have informed choices from candidates who are open and transparent.

"There are serious questions here regarding Julie's alleged attempts to conceal her involvement with the disgraced lobbying firm Bell Pottinger, founded by Margaret Thatcher's election guru, Tim Bell.

"Bell Pottinger is a shadowy firm notorious for inflaming racial tension on behalf of its billionaire clients in South Africa, which earned it the infamous title 'PR firm for despots and rogues' by the New York Times.

"I'm committed to upholding the core principles of transparency and integrity in public service. These questions matter because transparency matters," he said. 

Carlisle’s MP John Stevenson and Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Brian Wernham declined to comment.