Diary: 'Straightforward' Boris nets medal

Zetter had a busy week. He also handed Boris Johnson the big shiny 'CIPR President's Medal'.

That's Tory London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson who, avid readers of
PRWeek will no doubt remember, said he would sack PROs if he was
successful with voters (PRWeek, 5 October 2007).

At the last Conservative Party conference, the ever-colourful MP

complained about 'gigantic bat-eared Labour spin doctors who will be

waiting to twist and distort our message'.

The CIPR responded: 'Boris has said that he's not against PR
professionals or the industry. His point is that the mayor should be
accountable for how many press people he employs.'

Past CIPR President's Medal recipients include Lord Bell, Archbishop
Tutu and Ken Livingstone. At the handover, Zetter said: 'Boris
communicates in an amusing and straightforward manner, which gets
through to a wide range of audiences.' Presumably, Johnson was being
amusing and straightforward when he once referred to black people as
'piccaninnies' and said Africans had 'watermelon smiles'.

Meanwhile, the story has been generating a lot of blogs, an example of
which can be seen at www.stuartbruce.biz.