Rishi Sunak has hired Amber de Boton as his communications director, Downing Street confirmed Saturday.
De Botton’s journalistic career includes stints at ITV News and Sky News. She left her ITV News where she was head of British news and previously politics.
Unlike impartial civil servants, special advisers can give political advice to ministers, defend government actions, and criticize opposition parties.
ITV political editor Robert Peston tweeted: She is an excellent news editor and journalist, leaving a huge hole in ITV news. ”
Sky News political editor Beth Rigby wrote: They mean business.
The appointment is the latest by Sunak, who became prime minister on Monday after a leadership vote.
Snack returned Suella Braverman, Dominic Raab, and Michael Gove to the Cabinet, and retained Jeremy Hunt as Prime Minister.
James Cleverley was reappointed as Foreign Secretary and Braverman was reappointed as Home Secretary, a week after resigning for violating ministerial law by sending classified documents from her personal email. He was reappointed before long.
Sunak’s two-time leadership rival Penny Mordaunt will retain his job as Commons’ leader while Raab is appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General.
Three months after being dismissed by Boris Johnson, Gove was given his old job of leveling up secretary.
His Cabinet includes Grant Shaps, Gillian Keegan, Steve Berkley, Kemi Badenok and current Environment Secretary Therese Coffey.
Earlier, Sunak appointed Allegra Stratton, the former domestic editor of ITV News, as director of strategic communications in 2020 when he was prime minister, but months later she was poached and replaced by Johnson’s television briefings. Became a spokesperson.
It was ITV that obtained a video of Stratton joking about a “imaginary party” during a mock press conference just days after the alleged Christmas party at Number 10. She resigned one day after her.
On Saturday, a van was seen carrying belongings to Downing Street, with Sunak scheduled to move to the top ten.
A Bishop’s Move van, which specializes in removal, storage, and shipping, drove down the street, and staff carried mattresses through the famous number 10 black door.
Sunak and his family were due to move back into the apartment they lived in when he was prime minister, his spokesperson said earlier this week, months after moving.
I reached out to Downing Street for comment.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/29/rishi-sunak-hires-itv-head-of-uk-news-amber-de-botton-as-communications-chief Rishi Sunak has hired the head of ITV’s UK news division as communications chief.Rishi Snack