Why being a spin doctor might mean you need a real doctor
I've been sent this story by a former colleague at the BBC. It is running on the PA wires this evening.
I'm not in a position to comment on the claims made by this man's partner - but I can appreciate how it could be difficult to spin a story when you personally don't believe in it.
A Ministry of Defence press officer from York suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after feeling he was forced to be "frugal with the
truth" about the safety of troops in Iraq, his partner has claimed.
John Salisbury-Baker, 62, whose job also involved dealing with the families of dead soldiers, began suffering stress about two years ago and is suing the MoD for disability discrimination.
His partner Christine Brooke, 65, said she believed Mr Salisbury-Baker felt responsible for the deaths of the soldiers because of his role in speaking out about the safety of military equipment in Iraq.
Mr Salisbury-Baker began working for the MoD in 1996 as an information officer and became defence press officer at the Imphal Barracks in York about four years later.
His job involved telling the media that Army vehicles, such as Snatch Land Rovers, were adequately equipped to withstand roadside bombs and supporting the families of soldiers who had been killed.
In 2007, he was diagnosed with stress-related angina after suffering anxiety, discomfort in his chest and sleepless nights, and was off work sick for 12 months.
He returned to work briefly but was subsequently told he had post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ms Brooke said: "He felt quite shaky one day, he started to shake and couldn't stop. He went to see the doctor and he diagnosed him with suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which he said had gone on for a long time.
"It goes back to the fact he felt torn because he had a moral dilemma based on the fact he knew a little bit more about the situation than the people he was dealing with - those whose sons had died. He was trying to support them but feeling in his heart of hearts that if things had been done differently he wouldn't have been there."
