Peter Ferguson, Managing Consultant at Hanson Search spoke with Charlotte Miller Baynes, Partner at Portland, about her career journey in public affairs and politics, how her leadership style has evolved, and the shifting demands facing public affairs consultancies today.
I have always been interested in politics and current affairs. This led me to study British Politics and Legislative Studies at the University of Hull. The degree focused on politics and legislation with a year in Westminster built in. Growing up in the North of England, London felt a long way away, both geographically and financially. Moving straight into Westminster without a clear route in felt out of reach, so my placement year offered a far more accessible way of starting a career in politics. Amazingly, the year coincided with an election year and I ended up working at Conservative Party Campaign Headquarters rather than in an MP’s office. That experience was an extraordinary environment to be immersed in and it made it clear that politics and public affairs were where I wanted to build my career.
It was also the first year of higher tuition fees, so going to university was not a given. It was a decision I had to consider carefully. However, including a year of real-world experience made it a much more worthwhile investment.
Perhaps frustratingly, many of the most important qualities aren’t things you can easily be taught. Judgement, resilience and instinct are what really define great special advisers and consultants. Those human qualities matter even more as AI becomes more embedded in our work.
Technical expertise is essential. Being knowledgeable about legislation or a specific policy area will always matter. But what really sets people apart is sound judgement under pressure, the ability to cope with uncertainty and an instinct for how political dynamics will unfold. Those skills are developed by exposing yourself to a broad range of experiences, working with different clients and spending time in politics itself.
Throwing yourself into challenging situations is often what builds the resilience and perspective that make someone truly effective in this industry.
In politics, leadership often rewards decisiveness. People tend to gravitate towards the person who makes a decision quickly in a crisis and articulates it clearly. That is often necessary when decisions cannot wait. Over time, I have come to believe that the most effective leaders are not always the loudest people in the room. Leadership has become less about being the hero and more about building a team that is confident and capable enough to operate without you at the centre.
In practice, leaders who operate through trust, influence and judgement rather than hierarchy tend to build teams that do not rely on them for every decision.
There are a few industry-wide challenges at the moment. One of the most significant is AI adoption. I firmly believe that if the external environment is moving faster than your internal organisation, you risk becoming irrelevant. That has always been true, but it feels particularly acute now. With the support of Omnicom, Portland has been very deliberate about investing in technology and AI. We now have one of the strongest AI stacks in the industry. We also make it practical and shared. Every week, we dedicate time in team meetings to discussing how people have used AI in their work. It encourages learning, openness and innovation across the business.
The second challenge has been the broader economic climate. Like many consultancies, we have faced a more cautious market. Over the past year, we have doubled down on new business, prospecting and upselling, and made it clear that building networks is everyone’s responsibility, at every level of the firm. That focus has paid off. We have had a strong start in 2026 and have weathered the economic pressure better than many others. It has reinforced the importance of commercial awareness and shared responsibility in a consultancy environment.
It is critically important, although I understand why some organisations are experiencing public affairs fatigue. Many businesses spent years preparing for Brexit, navigating Covid, responding to successive changes in governments. What concerns me is that some organisations now struggle to give their public affairs leaders time and access to senior decision-makers. However, the world is more unstable than it has been for a long time, and stepping back from political engagement is a real risk.
At Portland, we recently launched a dedicated geopolitical function for precisely this reason. Even businesses operating primarily in the UK or Europe are exposed to global political shifts. Regulatory complexity, geopolitical instability and domestic political volatility are not going away. Businesses that succeed will be those that recognise uncertainty as a constant and embed public affairs expertise at the highest level of decision-making.
The market has already changed significantly. Clients are less focused on large, proactive integrated campaigns and far more interested in deep, specialist expertise. Budget pressures and public affairs fatigue play a role, but so does the growing complexity of regulation and policy.
At Portland, we have invested heavily in sector specialism, with dedicated teams across areas such as technology and energy. Clients increasingly want detailed, credible advice that reflects a deep understanding of their sector and the regulatory environment in which they operate. I do not see that demand diminishing. As the government relies more heavily on regulators, and policy frameworks become more complex, specialist public affairs expertise will only become more valuable. At the same time, the market is consolidating and it will be interesting to see how that changes the competitive landscape over the next few years.
I still cannot speak highly enough of my degree at Hull. There are similar programmes elsewhere that combine academic study with real-world experience. Those routes remain incredibly valuable. That said, the landscape has changed. When I started out, if you wanted to work in politics, you almost certainly had to go to University and then move to London. That is no longer the case. Devolution and regional growth mean there are now meaningful public affairs careers across the UK, particularly in cities such as Manchester and Leeds.
London and Westminster remain fantastic places to build experience and I would never discourage anyone from going there. But there are now exciting opportunities to work on political issues in the communities you come from, contributing directly to regional economies and policymaking. My advice would be to stay alert to where interesting work is happening, be open to non-traditional routes and think carefully about where you can make the greatest impact at the right moment in your career.
Whether you’re hiring top Public Affairs talent or considering your next career move, our team would be delighted to support you.
Peter Ferguson is Managing Consultant in the Public Affairs Practice. Peter advises and supports some of the world’s most renowned communications consultancies, boutique public affairs agencies and global in-house clients.
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