More insight on Meryl Streep’s preparation to play “The Iron Lady” comes courtesy The Telegraph: Bell Pottinger, the PR company founded by Tim Bell, coached Rebekah Brooks for her appearance before the House of Commons Committee for Culture, Media and Sport last week. But Brooks’s unconvincing performance was not in the same league as Lord Bell’s first PR triumph – Margaret Thatcher. With the late Sir Gordon Reece, he moulded Baroness Thatcher’s public persona – down to the bouffant hairdo and pearls. This is why the producers of The Iron Lady, scheduled for release next January, signed up Stephen Sherbourne, until recently Lord Bell’s right-hand man, to help Meryl Streep with her portrayal of Lady T. Sherbourne said there was little to add to the actress’s extraordinary insight into her subject: Miss Streep had read a great deal about the former PM, knew about the workings of Parliament and was in superb command of her brief. If only the same could be said of Rebekah Brooks.