Crackers pulls a fast one

Oh dear. David Cracknell, the former Sunday Times political editor, who joined lobbying firm FD-LLM as chairman in January, is leaving. Already? Yup! Cracknell will not be directly replaced at the firm, part of the Financial Dynamics PR outfit. Amid reports that it didn't work out, Crackers, as he is known to friends and detractors alike, tells PR Week that he has another job lined up but won't reveal what it is. Keep this up, Crackers, and you'll soon be regarded as Fleet Street's answer to Dawn Airey. Cracknell is in fact good chums with his former colleague at the Sunday Times, Mark Skipworth, now head of sport at the Telegraph Media Group. But a potential impediment to Cracknell pitching up at the Telegraph was that nasty incident at the Sunday Telegraph where he was caught out copying secret files from his boss's contacts book before he left for the Sunday Times. Mind you, that was more than six years ago - would there be anyone left at the Telegraph from that era who would remember?