Lowick Hedry, the strategic communications consultancy, has opened in Manchester. The office is led by Liam Didsbury, the former North West Regional Director of the Labour Party, who joins the firm as Partner.
As Regional Director, Liam led the party’s operation across the North West, including campaigns and its relationships with councils, elected representatives and local stakeholders. He brings 13 years’ experience at the heart of Labour politics in the region. Since leaving the party he has advised clients on political and public relations strategy.
Lowick Hedry advises developers, investors, businesses and public bodies on planning communications, community engagement, public affairs, political intelligence, and crisis and reputation. It has offices in London’s King’s Cross, Cambridge and now Manchester. The Manchester office will cover the Manchester and Liverpool City Regions, as well as engagement with Number 10 North. It gives the firm a permanent base in the North West at a time when more of the decisions that matter to clients, on investment, housing, transport and regeneration, are being taken in the region.
Kevin McKeever, Co-Founder and CEO at Lowick Hedry, said: “Few people understand North West politics like Liam. He ran Labour’s operation across the region and he has the relationships to match. He is the right person to build our business here. We set out to build an insurgent, confident and ambitious consultancy, one that helps clients through a period of real economic, political and technological change. More and more of that change is being shaped in the North West. Clients want advisers who are on the ground and who understand both the politics and the people. Manchester gives us that. It is the next step in building a national firm.”
Liam Didsbury said: “Leading Labour’s work across the North West taught me how much gets done when politics, business and public services pull in the same direction. Lowick Hedry has the reputation, the expertise and the ambition to help organisations make that happen. I’m joining to build the Manchester office from the ground up, across Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and wider North West, and to put that experience to work for our clients.”