Gavin Devine

Gavin Devine (born 1970) is a public relations consultant and the Chief Operating Officer of Porta Communications.

Early life and education

Devine was born in Barnet, London in 1970. His father, John Hunter Devine was a former footballer, who represented Great Britain in the 1960 Olympic Games. In 2004, Devine received an MBA from the Open University Business School.

He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. He later studied Politics at the University of York.

Work

Devine became a clerk in the House of Commons in 1992, working on the Home Affairs Committee before moving to work on the Transport Committee, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and Channel Tunnel Rail Link Bill Committee. He became a deputy principal clerk and a senior civil servant in 2002.

In 2004, Devine joined AS Biss and Co and progressed to become Deputy MD in 2005. Following their merger with Republic PR, he became the Joint MD of Mandate Communications before becoming COO of MHP Communications when that entity was created in 2010. In 2012, he was appointed as CEO of MHP, before joining Porta as COO in 2016.

Devine was a member of the Management Committee of the Association of Professional Political Consultants for several years including as Deputy Chair. In September 2013, Devine was invited to join the Public Relations Consultants Association Board of Management.^[1]

Views

Devine has been outspoken in the British media on the topic of lobbying and lobbyists.^[2][3] He gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee in September 2013, as part of the Committee's investigation into the Government's proposed Lobbying Bill, and was subsequently quoted on the matter in Parliament.^[4][5] More recently, he has been a vocal proponent of the UK remaining in the European Union. He regularly contributes articles to Huffington Post on this and other subjects.

References