As Iain Dale exclusively predicted earlier, 38-year-old Andy Coulson, the former Editor of the News of the World is to be the new Director of Communications for the Conservative Party from 9th July. He will work with George Eustice, head of media [Correction: 'the Leader's Press Secretary (Henry Macrory is Head of the Press Office'].
As Fraser Nelson writes over at The Spectator - this is a very welcome appointment. Mr Coulson fills a big gap in Team Cameron. He will know how to appeal to the striving voters that are not yet connecting with the new hug-a-hoodie Conservatism. It was, after all, Coulson's News of the World that came up with that phrase that powerfully mischaracterised Cameron's social responsibility agenda. He took the bullet for the recent royal phonetapping scandal but he still has excellent connections with the Murdoch empire. ConservativeHome has long believed that the party needs to strengthen its media operation and hopes that we now have the kind of person who will not allow future grammar-style rows to run out of control.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CCHQ
"David Cameron today announced that former News of the World Editor Andy Coulson has been appointed as the new Director of Communications and Planning for the Conservative Party. He will take up his appointment on 9 July.
David Cameron said:
“Andy is a hugely experienced journalist. I am delighted that he has agreed to join my team as Director of Communications and Planning. Andy will make a formidable contribution as a senior member of my team in building the most effective strategy and operation to win the next general election. I look forward very much to working with him”.
Andy Coulson said:
“I am delighted to be joining David Cameron’s team and I look forward to helping the Conservative Party to return to Government under his leadership.”"
2.30pm: Guido blogs that Coulson will be critical to a 'bodyline bowling' attack on Gordon Brown. Guido's buddy Michael White writes on Guardian online that it will be vital for Coulson to hire media folk who understand television.
6pm: Ben Brogan "is assured" that Coulson will be on a whopping £400,000 a year to "take the Tory communications machine apart and rebuild it to his liking".
Clearly good news but he is - I think - only the third jobbing journalist in the CCHQ media machine, currently about 20 strong. As I have posted several times before, our opponents have teams drawn exclusively from local radio/regional newspapers and 24 news channels.
Andy now needs to cascade his experience and professionalism through CCHQ with the appointment of a more robust press office capable of handling media firestorms of the like we have just witnessed.
Posted by: Schlieffen Plan | May 31, 2007 at 13:16
Shouldn't the Head of Media report to the Director of Communications?
I foresee a culture clash and will be surprised if Coulson lasts a year in the vipers nest Millbank.
Posted by: Trouble ahead | May 31, 2007 at 13:20
Great appointment - hopefully we can now look forward to far more professional operation than we have seen in the last couple of weeks.
Posted by: John T | May 31, 2007 at 13:27
"He will know how to appeal to the striving voters that are not yet connecting with the new hug-a-hoodie Conservatism."
More grammar schools perhaps? Or lower taxes?
Oh sorry,I forgot, those are off-limits.
Posted by: Martin Wright | May 31, 2007 at 13:31
This appointment is a sure sign that Project Cameron can attract the best'n'brightest.
Posted by: Felicity Mountjoy | May 31, 2007 at 13:49
Good news, there was an urgent need for this. Now we need comms. press and whips office to work smoothly - interesting to see how that goes, if Andy is as good as everyone says he is, it should be fine.
Posted by: Oberon Houston | May 31, 2007 at 13:55
A disgraced tabloid hack, whose newspaper was and is a sewer? Have many of you seen the News of the Screws? We should be ashamed as a country that this sort of low-rent sub-porn gets called a 'newspaper'. Call me a snob by all means, but it is a horrible, nasty newspaper, and Coulson is very much part of that culture.
Meanwhile, did the Board discuss, let alone approve Coulson's appointment? If not, why not? I was under the impression that the legacy of previous disastrous, and highly expensive, appointments by the Leader was that the Board now has to approve all the big new ones. I'll be asking Board members what they knew and when they knew it re Coulson's appointment. And if they didn't approve it before the job was offered and accepted, there are very some serious questions arising, both for Cameron and for the Board members asleep on their perch.
Posted by: ACT | May 31, 2007 at 13:56
from Iain Dale:
Dominic Grieve is demanding that Buckinghamshire should be allowed to provide more grammar schools if required. Will he jump before he's briefed against?
May 31, 2007 1:21 PM
Posted by: Grammar boy | May 31, 2007 at 14:05
What are you whittering on about?
Posted by: Oberon Houston | May 31, 2007 at 14:05
I wonder how long this guy will last? About as long as it takes him to fall out with the CCHQ members of the Notting Hill Mob, I would guess.
Still, as he surveys the wreckage of the last couple of weeks what's the betting that he advises a 'relaunch' of Cameron?
It's a milestone many of us have been eagerly awaiting.
Posted by: Traditional Tory | May 31, 2007 at 14:05
It is a shame that the party has to wait till 9th July before Mr Coulson takes over, he is needed urgently to sort out the mess CCHQ is currently in with the grammar school row. Perhaps his first job could be to communicate with the Shadow Cabinet and backbenchers before ill-thought out, mis-judged policy announcements are made.
Posted by: Paul | May 31, 2007 at 14:19
Yea gods DC is becoming ever more like a clone of B-Liar.
Posted by: George Hinton | May 31, 2007 at 14:23
Did I just hear on the radio correctly that D Grieve has written in his local paper that new grammar schools should be built in Beaconsfield if the population grew and more places were sought by parents?
And then, did I hear correctly that a Tory spokesman said that the policy allowed for more grammar schools to be built when there was this sort of justification?
I spy a man, or a crew, rowing backwards. Unedifying.
What a total horlicks. My bet is that this whole policy cock-up was caused by a cynical attempt at leftwards outreach, rather than any intellectual belief in what they were proposing, and in the full knowledge that it would be against the wishes and inclinations of the great majority of conservative voters (including those who have abstained at the last two elections).
Posted by: Og | May 31, 2007 at 14:26
coulson should team up immediately with lord ashcroft as the only person there who can make the the eton quartet listen. just think sitting around the table cameron (eton) his chief adviser llewelyn (eton) his campaign director bridges (eton) and his policy adviser letwin (eton) deciding how us average mortals want to live our lives!!!
Posted by: bill grant | May 31, 2007 at 14:29
...But Alastair Campbell has more experience in this field and, as you aspire to be Heirs to Blair, his political past is irrelevant.
Posted by: Occasional Visitor | May 31, 2007 at 14:32
Og
I posted about it on the daily thread - it was raised on the World at One. David Willetts handled it well. There's a difference between the situation in Buckinghamshire, where a growing population might require an extra grammar school to maintain balance in a selective system and advocating a wholesale expansion of the selective system across the country.
Posted by: Martin Wright | May 31, 2007 at 14:38
reference for coulson's phone tapping past.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=36700§ioncode=1
the idea seems to be that we have to stay in the news, either by declaring policies we don't really believe in to stir up Conservative activists e.g. cutting back grammar schools, or complimenting left-wing icons like Polly Toynbee, praising Blair - or appointing Royal-phone tapping specialists.
If it wins elections, then it will all be worthwhile - but the stink is appalling. I suggest holding of nose and having your 6 pm glass of sherry a few hours earlier.
Posted by: tapestry | May 31, 2007 at 14:56
Yuck, a nasty little man from a muck-raking sunday red top, what on earth are CCHQ thinking.
This hardly adding credibility, it simply makes the party look like a clone of NuLab.
Posted by: George Hinton | May 31, 2007 at 15:00
Anyway who can control situations better than what we've had in the past 2 weeks is welcome.
Out of interest, what school did Andy Coulson go to?
Posted by: Andrew Woodman | May 31, 2007 at 15:04
Under Andy Coulson's editorship of the News of the World, the papers's leader columns (and much of their stories) were on the issues that time and time again have been shown to matter most to actual real voters: Europe (strongly in favour of withdrawal), crime (more police, stronger penalties) and immigration (stronger protection of our border).
At no point did the NotW made a big deal of the issue shown time and time again to be of no interest to actual real voters: so-called climate change and "green" issues.
If Coulson can persuade Cameron to drop the green schtick and get back on to Europe, crime and immigration he's the man for us.
Posted by: Oliver Arthurs | May 31, 2007 at 15:07
Quite Oliver. That is what we must hope for. Finally we have someone earthy around the Cameron top table.
Posted by: Umbrella man | May 31, 2007 at 15:14
"... Buckinghamshire, where a growing population might require an extra grammar school to maintain balance in a selective system ..."
Or a comprehensive school, which would also not disturb the balance and which not impede social mobility in the way that a grammar school would (allegedly).
Posted by: Denis Cooper | May 31, 2007 at 15:17
Andrew,
Andy Coulson attended a comprehensive school in Essex, he does not have a degree.
Posted by: Chris | May 31, 2007 at 15:18
LOL: Chris, did any member of his family attend (a) Grammar (b) Eton (c) City Academy?
I need answers. Same for everyone else to. Get on it.
Posted by: Oberon Houston | May 31, 2007 at 15:30
Is there anyone else in the Cameron team who went to a comprehensive school? Coulson must be a first!
Posted by: Educationalist | May 31, 2007 at 15:31
One of Cameron's two speechwriters, Dougie Smith, went to a comprehensive school in Edinburgh. Mind you, the other speechwriter, Danny Kruger, went to Eton!
Posted by: Geoff P | May 31, 2007 at 15:37
Do you lot actually want to win?
Gordon is weeks away from starting a class-war based attack that they are not used to fighting on the fields of Eton.
The effete tree hugging is all very well for winning over LibDem voters, but motivating natural conservative voters and swing voting C1 D1 voters is going to take a little more oomph.
Posted by: Guido Fawkes | May 31, 2007 at 15:37
One of Cameron's two speechwriters, Dougie Smith, went to a comprehensive school in Edinburgh. Mind you, the other speechwriter, Danny Kruger, went to Eton!
Posted by: Geoff P | May 31, 2007 at 15:41
Guido,
Hope you haven't been following the threads since Grammargate broke. Every bottom feeder has come out of the woodwork recently. CH is now way below News of the World. Luckily, if they are wasting weeks here they aren't talking to the general public, think of it as a kind of care in the community for nutter politicoes. We will be charging visitors to enter the 'freak show' next.
oooh, daddy look at this blogger... get away from there Twinkle, quickly.
What a laugh honestly.
Posted by: Oberon Houston | May 31, 2007 at 15:43
Oberon Houston, alas that info isn't available ;-) It took a while to find Andy Coulson's roots, the guy doesn't even have a wikipedia page... yet!
Educationalist, I haven't got a list of "Cameron's Team" so I can't do a thorough check. Anyone know if Sam Roake (Former Web-Guru) was state educated? All I can seem to find on him is that he is an Oxford grad.
Posted by: Chris | May 31, 2007 at 15:44
Chris, keep trying. I don't need to remind you how important this is. Once thats done, could you start responding to some of the more outrageous posters on CH. Some may say this is a never ending task and quite pointless. Wrong. This is also vitally important work, and quite satisfying I'm told. Good Luck.
Posted by: Oberon Houston | May 31, 2007 at 15:49
Thanks Chris. Sounds a good man to have on board even if he is a useless bugger.
Posted by: Andrew Woodman | May 31, 2007 at 15:51
Looks like somebody better start looking for opportunities in strawberry picking!
About time too!
Posted by: Foch | May 31, 2007 at 15:53
Oberon, Alas I have exams to focus on. Unfortunately the life of a student isn't all fun and games.
Try not to get riled up by the doom-mongers, it merely undermines the point you are trying to make. Also, it doesn't do you any harm to agree with the odd point in their posts, I for one can't help but agree that the leadership have handled the issue badly, and the idealogical attack on grammar schools was unecessary.
Posted by: Chris | May 31, 2007 at 15:56
One of Cameron's speechwriters, Dougie Smith, went to a comprehensive school in Edinburgh. Mind you, the other speechwriter, Danny Kruger, went to Eton!
Posted by: Geoff P | May 31, 2007 at 15:59
Chris, why you disloyal, back stabbing b-stard. I though you were my friend.
:-)
Keep up the studying - otherwise you might end up in politics!
Posted by: Oberon Houston | May 31, 2007 at 16:00
Oberon
It was a sort of feeding frenzy - a bit lets all try to put the boot in. Note that even the Telegraph ended up supporting Cameron in its leaders - so perhaps the visit to the Channel Islands wasn't wasted. Now an ex Murdoch editor to repair that relationship... Looking up I tthink. Guido's right about the oncoming Brown storm - having a NoW Editor will be a great help in weathering that.
Posted by: Ted | May 31, 2007 at 16:00
Thanks Geoff I think we've got that now.
Posted by: Andrew Woodman | May 31, 2007 at 16:01
Chris: putting your own future ahead of doing Oberon's googling for him? What a selfish nutter you must be.
Posted by: Titania Cape Canaveral | May 31, 2007 at 16:03
Actually the Bucks situation has set me thinking that here on this side of the Thames in Maidenhead we also have a rising population, and we have five state secondaries, all of which are comprehensive - one boys, one girls, three mixed of which one is CoE - with the result that some people do their utmost to get their children into grammars in Bucks, to the annoyance of Bucks residents who quite rightly ask why we don't have our own grammars instead of trying to use theirs ...
So why not? If one of the three mixed comprehensives was allowed to select by academic ability and/or aptitude, or if a sixth school was opened on the same basis, then that problem would be solved for us and for Bucks residents as well.
Or would David Willetts say that our children were born on the wrong side of the river, and they don't deserve the same opportunities as those born in Bucks?
Posted by: Denis Cooper | May 31, 2007 at 16:07
Can we get back on thread please?
Posted by: Editor | May 31, 2007 at 16:11
Under Andy Coulson the News of the World leader columns were on the issues that time and time again have been shown to matter most to actual real voters: Europe (strongly in favour of withdrawal), crime (more police, stronger penalties) and immigration (stronger protection of our border).
Oh dear!
Somehow I don't think this marriage is made in heaven.
Posted by: Traditional Tory | May 31, 2007 at 16:31
One of Cameron's speechwriters, Dougie Smith, went to a comprehensive school in Edinburgh.
Cameron may be a hoodie-hugger, but I don't think anybody could accuse 'Fatal Attraction' Doogie of being a bunny-hugger.
And clearly the TRG hack who called the speechwriter to end speechwriters a 'camp thug' had never heard of Doogie's Fever sex parties where the iron rule is 'Bi guy? - Bye guy!'
How terribly homophobic.
Posted by: Traditional Tory | May 31, 2007 at 16:42
"He took the bullet for the recent royal phonetapping scandal" - naturally, he was responsible for it.
It's incredibly depressing that today's Tory Party is so pleased to be employing a man who spied on the Royal Family. Still, after grammars, and 'heirs to Blair' I suppose the natural thing for Cameron to do next was p*ss all over the sensibilities of the party's monarachists.
Posted by: ACT | May 31, 2007 at 17:05
Dougie Smith is an authentic genius. Who else could have created Europe's most upmarket orgy organisation and then made a smooth transition into the inner circles of the next government?
Any truly successful movement needs mavericks, free spirits and people who can think out of the box. Dougie certainly cuts an exotic figure amidst the clean-cut, managerial, public school-educated ranks of the Cameroons.
Good luck to him.
Posted by: Grammar School and Proud of It | May 31, 2007 at 17:07
"And clearly the TRG hack"
TRG not guilty! Private Eye called Douglas Smith a "Camp Thug"
I can vouch for the thug bit. Smith and Coulson should get on well together.
Posted by: Downsize the NHS | May 31, 2007 at 17:10
Are we so intent on mimicking Blair that we need our own Alistair Cambell. We've done this once when Hague brought in Amanda Platell - yes she of the Carnival Baseball cap and the " Save the Pound" brooch that no -one remembered to pay for.
What a CV. The Bizarre Column in The Sun, with its C list celebs and D list issues - fed by the likes of Max Clifford and "Shag and tell" wannabes - is not the right training ground for serious political communication.
And subsequently to be hired by Her Majesty's Oppposition, following the disgrace of his Royal Correspondent secretly bugging and intruding upon Royal Family members' phones? Come on...
Did Cameron learn anything from his only real job as PR at Carlton? The basic rule is that the PR is never the story.
Coulson is and if Clive Goodman proves in Court during his Unfair Dismissal case, that his Editor knew what he was doing and sanctioned the action, Coulson will be again.
Posted by: Chris McLaughlin | May 31, 2007 at 17:12
Interesting. This guy looks the business. Will he have an impact on policy? If so, good. Populist right-wing politics suits me better than leftie noblesse oblige.
My understanding is that the enemies within are only against right-wing politics because it is unpopular when spouted by the likes of Tory MPs. Perhaps this guy knows how to put it across like John Howard or Bertie Ahern. Roll on three or four election victories.
Posted by: Henry Mayhew | May 31, 2007 at 17:18
Dougie Smith is an authentic genius. Who else could have created Europe's most upmarket orgy organisation
According to a recent habitue of Doogie's sophisticated sex sessions...
"We went to party which was advertised as being in a 'bijou' luxury innner city apartment..it was a cramped 2 bedroom ordinary flat...
"The Fever/Fervour concept has gone.. its now not a shadow of its former stunning ultra sexy chic 'impossible to get in' heyday..150 quid for 4 hours on 2 lumpy beds...no thanks..its a long way from its 4 person on one bed daisy chain glamourous upmarket hedonistic heyday..
"Verdict...Don't bother.. the website will give you a pointer..it has not been updated in 4 months...and to make matters worse Fever is also now being ripped apart by internal politics.. with one of the woman founders also opening up her own club..'Killing Kittens'(??)"
Sounds like Fever is becoming just like the Tory Party in its internal politics.
Perhaps the celestial speechwriter/orgymaster should relaunch his own business under the title 'Killing Rabbits'.
Posted by: Traditional Tory | May 31, 2007 at 17:24
Good intelligence, Traditional Tory. I'm sure we're all sorry to hear that Fever parties is "a shadow of its former stunning ultra sexy chic 'impossible to get in' heyday."
According to the papers, Dougie Smith ended his involvement in Fever several years ago so your information would tend to confirm the view that it was his creative genius that made the parties so amazing.
I hope he's been asked to organise CCHQ's summer party...
Posted by: Grammar School and Proud of It | May 31, 2007 at 17:32
The arrival of Coulson has to be a step in the right direction. It would of course be better if DC could actually get Murdoch on board rather than taking on what they clearly see as the halfway house which is a former employee.
If Coulson has the talent, let's hope that DC gives him some decent material to work with!
Posted by: Adam Tugwell | May 31, 2007 at 17:45
A disgraced tabloid hack, whose newspaper was and is a sewer? Have many of you seen the News of the Screws? We should be ashamed as a country that this sort of low-rent sub-porn gets called a 'newspaper'. Call me a snob by all means, but it is a horrible, nasty newspaper, and Coulson is very much part of that culture.
Posted by: ACT | May 31, 2007 at 13:56
'Bout right... should raise the standards of Team Cameron then!
Posted by: Richard North | May 31, 2007 at 17:45
According to tonight's Evening Standard
"It is understood that Mr Coulson's links to shadow defence secretary Liam Fox played a part in his appointment"
What links?
Posted by: michael mcgough | May 31, 2007 at 19:38
I made no secret that I was not a Tory supporter when I first came on to this blog.
After reading this article and some of the comments on it, had I have been a Tory, I would now have become an ex-Tory.
This is the pits, how much lower can Cameron get in his desperation to win the next GE.
The News of the World for goodness sake. Even in my younger days this piece of filth was known as the Wh***'s Gazette.
This fellow Coulson might have access to Murdoch's Editors, but bear this in mind. When Rupert Murdoch decides which party he is going to support at the next GE, he will take that decision on what is right for his empire and pocket, nothing else, then those same Editors will be told to toe the line. They will all be far too careful watching their five figure salaries to disobey.
Cameron is not exactly flavour of the month with Murdoch and I would imagine that Coulson has done himself no favours either with Murdoch, by getting caught up in a Royal Family incident albeit indirectly.
All the other Editors will be mindful of that.
I never thought I would live to see the day this once proud and honourable party could be reduced to such levels.
Has any real Tory out there thought for one moment about the carnage that is going to be left by Cameron when he looses the next election. He will resign then squat on the back benches for a while, then take up outside interests where the real brass is. One has only got to think of Hague and Ken Clarke to realise that fact of life.
His successor is going to have one hell of a job picking up the pieces trying to put the Tories back together again. Cameron has forsaken so many principles which the Tories held dear, just who is going to believe a word they say when they try to reverse the chaos he is creating, Tories are blindly walking in to this.
Even Davies will loose what credibility he has by going along with Camerons crackpot ideas to get elected.
Posted by: Joseph | May 31, 2007 at 19:58
Will Coulson be bringing copies of the rocking horse pics with him?
I guess only time will tell.
Posted by: pampers | May 31, 2007 at 20:05
Dougie Smith is an authentic genius. Who else could have created Europe's most upmarket orgy organisation and then made a smooth transition into the inner circles of the next government?
Don't forget Dougie's long and profitable sojourn in the Referendum Party, which only ended when Sir Jammy did - at which point he followed young Zac, as a loyal family retainer should, back to the Conservative Party.
Posted by: FCS Survivor | May 31, 2007 at 20:06
Best thing about having NoW inside the Conservative organisation is they will get the sex scoops into the paper directly from a source inside.......
Should be highly amusing......might as well have some fun watching an organisation self-destruct
Posted by: Cynical Voter | May 31, 2007 at 22:58
This appointment is a sure sign that Project Cameron can attract the best'n'brightest.
Posted by: Felicity Mountjoy | May 31, 2007 at 13:49
You mean Felicity darling grown men will actually work in Central London for a mere £400.000.........he must have been desperate for the job....anyway, sound negotiating skills to bid him down to 'Media Minimum Wage'
Posted by: Cynical Voter | June 01, 2007 at 07:58
Who's paying him anything? The Board hasn't agreed to pay him a penny. Is one of our peerage-sporting donors 'informally' paying him? Watch this space: another grade A disaster in the making.
Posted by: ACT | June 01, 2007 at 11:21
Guido asks the question do the leadership want to win.
I have no doubt the leadership wants to win, unfortunatly there are many on this site that don`t.
They just want another defeat so a right-wing nutter like Davis or Fox can become leader and we can all go back to the eighties and stand on a platform of privatising BT, selling off council houses, and bringing in the poll tax.
When will the right learn that the countrys moved on and we need new policies and a new direction for this new century.
If we lose the next general election Labour will be in power for another twenty years and we will get all of the things most of us oppose including the Euro.
Posted by: Jake Russell | June 01, 2007 at 15:03
Did you not agree with policies including: "privatising BT, selling off council houses, and bringing in the poll tax", Mr Russell? If not and you and others with similar views consider yourselves conservatives, the sooner the party splits the better. Or maybe it is just how you expressed yourself.
Posted by: Bill | June 01, 2007 at 16:17
Am I correct in deducing that, for around a million quid a year, the Party employs someone to devise policies and someone to then communicate them?
And the role of the Shadow Cabinet is therefore what, precisely?
I seem to recall British Airways at one time contemplated conversion to a 'virtual airline', i.e. owning & running nothing but just overseeing franchises for the various facets of the operation and enabling them to use the brand name. Sounds like the Tories are devising the political equivalent! Still, as long as the voting passengers climb aboard EasyConAir in sufficient numbers, none of its Ops Managers is going to worry about trivial things such as core philosophies & principles.
We've suffered 10 years of Bl-Air and now face a further lengthy stint with Brown'air. How long before you're ready for take-off?
Posted by: Occasional Visitor | June 01, 2007 at 18:56
£485 000 !!!!
Is someone completely mad ?
Posted by: TomTom | June 01, 2007 at 21:29