Ben Nunn is back in the fold. The Chancellor’s director of communications and strategy is heading back to Keir Starmer’s right hand to take on a senior strategic advisory role. Nunn was by Starmer’s side during the turbulent Corbyn years, working as his political adviser before graduating to director of communications for the PM’s leadership campaign and later executive director of comms for the Labour Party.
Nunn was part of the Arlington Group – an informal set that included the PM and his chief aide Morgan McSweeney – who met at Jenny Chapman’s house with the aim of getting Starmer elected. He exited Starmer’s team in 2021 for a 22-month stint in the private sector before joining Rachel Reeves’s team in July 2023.
His specific role in No 10 hasn’t been confirmed but is part of a strategy and communications shake up triggered by the acrimonious resignation of political strategy director Paul Ovenden in September, followed by the departure of communications chief, Steph Driver. There have been whispers that Nunn could directly replace Ovenden.
This is not the first time Starmer has manoeuvred someone from Reeves’s team into his. Darren Jones, Reeves’s former ministerial number two in the Treasury, was moved directly into the Cabinet Office as chief secretary to the Prime Minister in early September. The Hitch wonders how Reeves is feeling about this in the run up to a tricky Budget next month.
The revolving doors of No 10 keep going (critics may add: “deck chairs on the Titanic” etc etc). But reinstating Nunn suggests Starmer hopes to return to his roots and a less turbulent era. Time will tell.
[Further reading: Who is Jonathan Powell?]
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