Ethical Public Affairs Expertise Rooted in Strategic Insight
Since 2013, PACooperative has championed a fresh approach to public affairs—one that places ethics, professionalism, and measurable impact at its core. From Westminster corridors to Scottish Parliament committees, our seasoned consultants navigate political, media, and business arenas with clarity, giving organisations the voice, visibility, and influence they need to speak confidently in moments of opportunity or pressure.
Who We Are
PA Cooperative offers a wealth of expertise in public affairs and communications consultancy. Since 2013, we have supported organisations with pragmatic, strategic, and informed services tailored carefully to their needs. Our team includes experienced specialists with backgrounds in policy and public affairs, event hosting and event management, photography and video production, writing, editing, media training and podcasting, finance and business management, and stakeholder engagement. We believe in working in close partnership with clients, and communicating consistently and effectively, to deliver top-quality support from the first conversation onward.
Meet our team
PA Cooperative offers a wealth of knowledge in public affairs and public relations, with a constant eye on how the political, business and media worlds are evolving – to ensure our advice is always relevant to the here and now.
Rachael Clamp
Chart.PR, FCIPR
Rachael Clamp is a senior communications and engagement specialist with deep experience across public sector, regulated industries and complex stakeholder environments. She has held senior roles at Northrop Grumman, EY and PA Consulting Group, and established her own consultancy in 2019. Based in the London area, Rachael leads PA Cooperative’s political engagement work in Westminster. She is a longstanding member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, having chaired their public affairs group, served as a council member and sat on their board of directors. She was President of the CIPR in 2024.
Neil Cuthbert
Chart.PR
Neil Cuthbert is a public affairs and communications specialist with over 25 years’ experience across government, not-for-profit and private sector clients. He co-founded PA Cooperative in 2013 and became a Chartered PR Practitioner in 2023. His work spans land-based industries, renewable energy, planning and stakeholder engagement. Neil is also an elected councillor on the City of Edinburgh Council, where he serves on the Transport and Environment Committee. Away from work, he enjoys looking after his Labrador Retriever, Moomin, and spending time with his family.
David Lee
David Lee specialises in event hosting, podcast presenting, video production, writing and editing. He worked in daily newspapers for 20 years, set up his own business in 2009 and has worked with PA Cooperative since 2014. He has hosted almost 400 in-person and 200+ online events, including policy conferences, awards ceremonies, seminars and webinars – and around 150 podcasts. David can turn his hand to any subject, from forestry and climate change to legal affairs and data science. He has produced 100+ high-quality documents, including many election manifestos. Away from work, he is a passionate coastal rower and enthusiastic footballer of declining ability.
Ben McLeish
Ben McLeish is a Chartered Accountant and Director of 22Ten Business Advisors, providing Finance Director and financial policy services across the public and private sectors. He has specialised in tertiary education, early years education and public finance governance, and was Assistant Principal (Finance and Resources) at Edinburgh’s Telford College before setting up his own consultancy in 2011. Away from work, Ben is a father of three, and enjoys tennis, football and walking the dog.
Phil Wilkinson
Phil Wilkinson is a highly respected photographer and videographer based in the Scottish Borders. He worked for national newspapers as a staff photographer before setting up his own business (philspix.com). He still has his work published regularly in a variety of publications, and works for numerous commercial clients. Phil has worked with PA Cooperative on around 15 video projects, including these two short films from 2026 – this one (with a successful outcome!) highlighting a ground-breaking rural training course, and this one for forestry company Scottish Woodlands to showcase its work on clearing wind farms.
What makes us different?
The PA Cooperative story began in 2013 when our founding Directors decided to create a different kind of public affairs and communications consultancy – one driven by the values of experience, professionalism, and transparency.
By choosing to become a cooperative, we protected our ability to work independently and democratically. We do not report to private shareholders or distant directors, and remain focused entirely on delivering value for our clients. All our team members have over 25 years’ worth of relevant experience.
Every member of our team brings extensive experience, and our Directors work with clients on each project – we do not delegate to junior staff. The people you meet initially are the people you will work with, so you benefit from our expertise and experience from day one to day 100 and beyond.
This approach ensures consistency, trust, and expert, experience-based guidance from start to finish – and it’s how we build long-term, trusting relationships with all our clients.
Our Cooperative Principles
Our business operates with co-operative values at the heart of what we do. We strive to stay true to these seven key principles to put these values into practice:
Voluntary and Open Membership
Democratic Member Control
Member Economic Participation
Autonomy and Independence
Education, Training and Information
Co-operation among Co-operatives
Concern for Community
Ready to amplify your influence with pragmatic, effective and expert advice from PA Cooperative?
Let us help you transform complex challenges and sticky situations into sensible solutions and a focused future.
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