Peter Guilford

Peter Guilford is a partner in GPlus Europe, a Brussels based lobbying firm he established with former BBC journalist Nigel Gardner in 2000.

Guilford was a journalist with The Times from 1988-1991, after which he worked in a series of positions with the European Commission including as spokesman for the Commissioner for Competition, Sir Leon Brittan, spokesman for the EU Commission President and now Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

A biographical note states that since founding GPlus Guilford "has devised and run political and media strategies for major blue-chip companies in the technology, retail, media, transport, luxury goods and food sectors. He has been at the forefront of negotiations with the EU to resolve anti-trust and state aid investigations, anti-dumping inquiries, WTO disputes and customs problems. He is also closely involved in the growing public debate over food safety and nutrition and the way it impacts on EU regulation."

"He began his Commission career as Spokesman for Competition at the time when the EU acquired new rules to block big mergers. He then became Trade Spokesman in 1993, handling the Uruguay Round of world trade talks and subsequent global agreements on telecoms, financial services and information technology," it states.

He "joined the Commission's international trade department in 1997 as a negotiator on China's entry into the World Trade Organisation. He then joined Romano Prodi's transitional office to advise the new President on media strategy, recruit the Commission's new team of Spokespeople and help set up the new Press and Communication Service. When Prodi entered office in September 1999, Peter became Deputy Spokesman running strategy, taking the daily press briefing and managing the Commission's overall media coverage. In November 1999 he spearheaded the EU's media handling at the Seattle world trade talks."

Its What You Know ... And Who You Know

"Contrary to popular opinion, business here is not about address books. It does help to know people, but what is key is the insight gained from having worked with these people," he told PR Week in 2007.

Working for the Kremlin

In 2006 the Kremlin hired GPlus as part of a Ketchum-led team during Vladimir Putin's one-year term as President of the G8. GPlus, Guilford said, was tasked with covering "Russia's G8 priorities - energy security, education and infectious diseases. In reality, the broader view of that brief was everything to do with Russia's integration into the broader world economy."

"Russia is not perfect," he told PR Week. "It doesn't have a perfect democracy, it doesn't have perfect human rights, but it has come a hell of a long way in the past 15 years".

"Now there is a commitment to liberal economics, human rights and democracy. They're not always perfect, they're not always kept to, but the direction is right," he said.