The Festival of Britain allowed Sir Stephen Tallents a material legacy. The vogue for larger organisational units, the return of political sectarianism and the first stirrings of the Cold War all militated against the individualistic brand of public relations pioneered by Tallents. Shifts in the political pronouncements of Institute of Public Relations (IPR) members accompanied a boom in the growth of public relations consultancy. The IPR's formation was part of a National Association of Local Government Officers initiative to exert greater influence on Labour's anticipated programme of local government reform. Tallents's appointment at the IPR represented a defence of native traditions that were rapidly being challenged by the flood of new entrants who had joined the profession post-1945. As Tallents's stilted work at the Ministry of Town and Country Planning was to attest, the postwar world did not well reward those who had their feet placed in the latter camp.