Old Nick, God and the Tory press

What it is to have friends in high places. And Jenkins Group chairman Nick Jenkins definitely has them. He’s just designed the Church of England’s first corporate identity (DW 1 November).

To stamp out the erratic use of the cross, the Church of England allowed Nick to donate his time on the project. Should stand him in good stead on judgement day.

Nick also has contacts in the more grubby world of the national press. And fearing a BT-style “Church blows coffers on squiggle” headline in The Sun, Nick had lunch with his old friend Deedes.

That’s Deedes as in Bill Deedes, ex-Telegraph editor and still wielder of considerable influence on that organ. Hence it’s The Daily Telegraph which breaks the C of E logo story, complete with Jenkins’ quote and without any inflammatory guff about millions of pounds being wasted.

But even Nick’s friends failed to influence the leader writers of the Telegraph, who dismissed the logo as “a PR gimmick” which makes the C of E “look like a sect”. That’s hardly news, is it?