UK Treasury shows its skill at media framing although politicisation of government announcement raises questions

The Conservatives must be delighted by the coverage which the announcement by the UK Treasury has received for its decision to repurchase £218M of bonds issued in the 1920s by Winston Churchill and related primarily to Britain refinancing First World War costs.  The story has received good coverage not only the financial media where such a story would normally be covered but across mainstream media as well, even international media - I think I saw it in Le Figaro.

Bond repurchases do not normally gain much attention but the Treasury press announcement is a master class in media framing:

• 2014 is a 100 years since the start of the First World War and the UK is just about to commemorate those who died at Remembrance Sunday so timing was excellent.
• Exceptional public interest in the display of poppies at the Tower of London has highlighted that the First World War has a strong hold on the imagination of the British people further enhancing impact of story.

Picture: Daily Telegraph. 

• A new biography written by Boris Johnston on Winston Churchill has just come out and Winston Churchill was Chancellor when the bonds were first issued. Links with Churchill are key requirement for any Conservative future leader.
• The Treasury has managed to link the story back into much earlier British history including the South Sea Bubble (18th century) which it claims the bonds, when first issued were also clearing up.  This aspect of the story seems a bit far fetched however the overall message which the Treasury clearly wanted to emphasise is that Britain pays its debts.  This is always a good message to remind international capital particularly as UK bonds are no longer AAA with all credit rating agencies.  Certainly the announcement has been well received going by comments from bond analysts. 

Apart from the media framing by the Treasury, the rather clunky message by the Chancellor in the announcement, even stronger in his tweet “We’ll redeem £218m of 4% Consols, including debts incurred because of South Sea Bubble. Another financial crisis we’re clearing up after ...” shows that a UK election is not far away and political point scoring in a government announcement even from such a powerful department as the Treasury is now standard.  (What would former No.10 press secretaries Harold Evans and Henry James have said - having worked with them, I am sure they would not have approved.)