British political strategist Kris Bruni-Lou (Chris Bruni-Lowe) claims that the Prime Minister Milojko Spajic called in January 2023, asking for his help to win the presidential elections in March of that year, and that he (Bruni-Lou) had come up with the slogan "it's time" - the slogan under which Spajić's Europe Now Movement (PES) ran in the national elections held in June of that year.
This is written in Bruni-Lou's book "Eight words that changed the world", which was published in July last year by the publishing house "Biteback Publishing" from Halle.
Bruni-Lou is a close associate Nigel Farage (Nigel Farage), leader of the far-right Reform Party in the United Kingdom. Local media reported that he was Farage's chief political advisor during Brexit - the campaign that the politician led for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016, which resulted in the formal departure of the EU four years later.
The British strategist describes what it was like working with Spajić, stating that the project was the closest he came to replicating his experience advising Farage. He says that the current Prime Minister, for his unsuccessful presidential campaign, initially wanted a slogan that would reflect “the metaphorical crossroads that Montenegro was at,” but that the analyses he conducted indicated that it would not work.
He explains that based on additional analysis, and then work with focus groups, he proposed the slogan "it's time" - which PES then used in the parliamentary elections, after Spajić was "disqualified" from the presidential race because he had Serbian citizenship in addition to Montenegrin.
Bruni-Lowe's book was reviewed by the BBC, The Times, The Spectator, and the Financial Times...
It's not in the PES papers.
In the PES account statements for 2023, which the party submitted to the NGO Sector Affirmation Network upon a request for free access to information, there is no data or transactions that show that PES collaborated with Bruni-Lou.
Reports on funds spent during the campaigns for the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections submitted to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) state that PES spent over one million euros on campaigns for those two election processes (1.062.996 euros).
ASK told "Vijesti" that this regulation (Article 16) stipulates the obligation of parties to present their expenses in the reports they submit during and after the campaign.
"The aforementioned law stipulates that reports record the funds spent, that is, the actual costs incurred in implementing election campaign activities - not the contracts themselves, but the costs arising from their preparation or implementation," it was explained.
Spajić's cabinet, the party he leads, as well as the executive director of PES at the time of the aforementioned elections Vasilije Carapić, did not answer the editorial team's questions - whether it is true that Bruni-Lou provided services to Spajić and PES, if so - when and how, whether he was paid for it, and if so - how much.
They also did not answer whether it was true that Spajić "asked for help" from Bruni-Lou to win the presidential election, and if so - how Spajić met Bruni-Lou, whether he is still in contact with him, how the contact came about, and whether the controversial Briton played a role in it. George Cottrell (George Cottrell), given that both Cottrell and Bruni-Lou are close associates of Farage.
Questions about whether it is true that Bruni-Lou came up with the slogan "it's time" were also kept quiet, as well as why, considering that he claims to have participated in the campaign, this was not reported to ASK.
From the office of the head of state Jakov Milatović The newspaper reported that the president had never heard of Bruni-Lou, had never been in contact with him, nor had the Briton played any role in Milatović's campaign.
"With this in mind, you can direct the answers to these questions to PES and its president Spajić," they added.
Milatović founded PES with Spajić, but, due to internal party disagreements, left the party in February 2024.
"Vijesti" has tried to contact Bruni-Lou several times over the past month, but has not been successful as of the publication of this article.
Campaigns
Bruni-Lou writes in the book that the power of eight "buzzwords" (people, change, democracy, strength, togetherness, new, time and betterment) and the importance of using them in the right way at the right time - is illustrated through two very different campaigns in which he participated.
“The first was Nigel Farage's anti-EU 'Brexit' party (renamed Reform in 2021), which won the most seats in the 2019 European Parliament elections in the United Kingdom. The second was the successful campaign for the 2023 parliamentary elections in Montenegro, led by the PES, aimed at gaining public support for Montenegro's candidacy for EU membership,” the book states.
He writes that of all the projects he has been involved in since 2018, the one that came closest to replicating his experience advising the Brexit party - appeared in January 2023.
“I helped Milojko Spajić, the former finance minister, in Montenegro, part of the former communist state of Yugoslavia, which is now a European democracy with only 600.000 citizens. Six months earlier, he had resigned from the government to form a new political party... and he wanted my help to win the presidential elections in March 2023,” he describes.
Bruni-Lou states that Spajić, like Farage, "went against the tide" by founding a new party in a highly competitive political environment, and that Montenegro, like Great Britain, had fallen into a "political impasse."
“Spajić had to reverse some deeply held views in order to win two democratic elections... He wanted a slogan that he believed would reflect the metaphorical crossroads Montenegro was at. He wanted to convey the message that, under other parties, the country would be politically lurching left and right, and that he would lead it forward,” the book says.
The political strategist claims that his public opinion research has found that the “crossroads” analogy would not work, adding that focus groups have shown that voters believe that change is being imposed on them, something that makes electorates around the world uneasy.
“In this case... the campaign and the language of change had to be implicit, not explicit,” he stressed.
Bruni-Lou also said that his research, in the "crossroads" analogy, also identified the possibility of staying put.
"That's something Spajić didn't think about at all," he claims.
He writes that he proposed a clearer slogan, which was then tested in focus groups - "it's time".
“These words would be used to suggest that people’s lives would improve economically, rather than simply portraying Spajić as a candidate for ‘change’ for the sake of change. The idea worked. The slogan fitted Spajić’s overall thesis. He also urged voters to believe that change would happen naturally if they supported him instead of settling for the status quo. The campaign plan was based on how the economy would improve for ordinary Montenegrin citizens, so that they could finally enjoy a European standard of living…”, it states.
He then describes how Spajić was “disqualified” from the presidential race, how Milatović replaced him and won the elections, and how the momentum gained from that victory helped PES “win the next parliamentary elections as well.”
Bruni-Lou notes that the examples of Faraž and Spajić show that politicians often have deeply held beliefs and strong ideas about how they want to express them, but that what they want to say, what they end up saying, and what voters hear - do not always match.
“Assessing the mood of the electorate is crucial. The same goes for timing. Knowing when to say something is just as important as saying it. Indeed, the election slogan with the word ‘time’ was used by opposition parties in Montenegro on several occasions before 2023, without any effect. The fact that Spajić used it so successfully in 2023... confirms this thesis,” he says.
Cottrell and Montenegro
"Vijesti" wrote in late August 2024 that British marketing experts were engaged in Spajić's presidential campaign. PES claimed that Spajić did not have that campaign because he was disqualified from running for the position of head of state.
The editorial office then Dominik Garner (Dominic Garner), George Cottrell's lawyer, confirmed that British citizens participated in the production of the videos for Spajić's campaign, but denied allegations that they were hired by Cottrell and that the Briton financed PES. Cottrell denied through his lawyer that he hired Gavejna Tabula (Gawain Towler), but confirmed that the media consultant and his team were hired and paid by PES for Spajić's presidential campaign. It is possible that PES and Spajić broke the law at the time by not opening a separate account for the campaign, regardless of the fact that the candidacy was not accepted.
Lawyer Garner told "Vijesti" at the time that Cottrell occasionally met with Spajić, Milatović and other PES members during 2022.
Some Montenegrin politicians claimed in 2023 that Cottrell was the owner of an illegal cryptocurrency vending machine in Tivat, which one of his lawyers denied at the time.
DON'T MISS IT
Cottrell, who was convicted of fraud in the United States (US), last year founded the company “Geostrategy”, which deals with political strategy and public opinion research. “Vijesti” wrote in August last year that the company was promoting its work on its website with a video featuring Spajić and other PES officials. In addition, the site has published 18 analyses of the political situation in Montenegro - the last one on July 28 last year. Since the publication of the text, no new analysis of the situation in Montenegro has appeared.
PES told the newspaper at the time that they had not collaborated with Cottrell's company, and that they would request that the video showing their officials be removed from the website. They did not answer the question of whether they knew when the videos were made.
"PES did not hire the services of the aforementioned company. We did not authorize the publication of the footage in question and will initiate a request for their removal," Spajić's party said.
However, the "Dziostratedzi" website still contains footage featuring Spajić and his party comrades.
DON'T MISS IT
The company's website also states that, in addition to offices in Washington, London and Zurich, they also have an office in Podgorica. However, the address of the Podgorica office is not available on the website, and Cottrell's company did not respond to the editorial office about where the office is located, or whether the company is registered in the Montenegrin economic system. A search of the website of the Central Register of Business Entities (CRPS) shows that Cottrell's company under that name does not exist in Montenegro.
"Dziostrategji" did not respond to the newspaper's question about whether they cooperate with PES, saying that they do not disclose details about their client list because they are bound by "strict confidentiality rules."
The British media outlet Good Law Project wrote that Cottrell's firm, as a so-called unlimited company, is not required to file financial reports, which, they claim, potentially makes it ideal for funneling "dirty money" into the Reform Party.
Bruni-Lou, Cottrell, Farage, Gallagher, Tye...
At the end of May 2023, the British tabloid "Daily Mail" published photographs showing Bruni-Law, Cottrell, Farage, his deputy in the Reform Party Richard Tice, and the former CEO of the Avala Casino in Budva, Neil Gallacher, in a restaurant in central London.
Apart from these, there are no photos of Bruni-Lou available online. There is only a YouTube video posted in 2012 in which Bruni-Lou speaks about the political campaign “People's Pledge” - of which he was a co-founder.
The aim of the campaign was to secure a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, by asking voters to sign a pledge that their vote would help ensure a majority of members of the British Parliament supporting a referendum "for or against" EU membership.
The campaign ran from 2011 to 2016.
"Bytbek" also published Cottrell's book "How to Launder Money"
"Byteback Publishing" published Cottrell's book "How to Launder Money" the day before yesterday.
The publishing house, which has published many books by right-wingers in the UK, including Farage, organized a book launch on February 14th, and according to The Guardian, the event was attended by many people from the top of the Reform Party.
The book's subtitle reads - "a guide for law enforcement, prosecutors and policymakers", while the promotional text reads: "Criminals already know how to launder money; this is, in part, their inside story".
Cottrell was Farage's chief of staff when he was leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He was in charge of raising money for UKIP until he was arrested in the US in July 2016, where he was charged with money laundering, fraud, blackmail and extortion.
In December of the same year, he reached a plea deal with the local prosecutor's office, dropping 20 counts in exchange for pleading guilty to wire fraud in which he explained how to launder money. He spent eight months in prison.
Byteback Publishing is partly owned by billionaire Michael Ashcroft, who was a Conservative Party representative in the British House of Lords from 2000 to 2015.
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