After Boris Johnson’s resignation, critics keen to lay blame at door of ‘too casual’ communications director
When he walked into Downing Street five months ago as Boris Johnson’s communications director, Guto Harri drew attention to himself with an interview thatNow, in the postmortem and recriminations that inevitably follow any prime minister’s downfall, fingers are pointing at Harri over a tenure some describe as almost as gaffe-prone as that of his boss.
“To be fair to him, he inherited the job when government comms was pretty troubled, and it would have been an extraordinary job if he had been able to turn around the ship at that point.” However, those who know him from No 10 and as special advisers react with eye-rolls when asked about his work for Johnson, describing him as too casual and relaxed about the communications job.
While some senior Conservative MPs rate Harri for taking some of the toxicity out of No 10 since the Dominic Cummings era – and supporters say he successfully pivoted Johnson towards more broadcast exposure and outlets with mass appeal – others blame him for contributing to the sense of chaos around Johnson’s communications.
The source added: “Guto clearly thinks he’s a passenger and is just there for the ride. He has a nice looking CV, history with the PM and seems to tick all the boxes. But from a political management perspective, he hasn’t got a clue.”since he came into No 10. He was nicknamed “Huawei Harri” for joining from Hawthorn Advisers, a PR firm that lobbied for the Chinese technology company. Several other Hawthorn staff members later joined the press office.
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