What do you do when you’re opinionated, loquacious and somewhat under-employed? Start your own self-concentred podcast of course. So Mr S is delighted to welcome the garrulous Guto Harri to the world of political broadcasting, with the onetime Downing Street director of communications now launching ‘a brand-new political memoir podcast series Unprecedented‘ with Global.
Fresh from earning the ire of Acoba after Steerpike pointed out his new (undeclared) speaking gig, Harri is in a hurry to record his recollections for the posterity of history/make as moolash as he can. Today’s Daily Mail gives him the full Northcliffe House treatment, going all guns blazing on his claims that Johnson ‘squared up’ to King Charles at a summit last year with a splash and acres of space for Harri to give his account/puff the podcast.
The ‘official’ press release for Unprecedented goes even further, with Global hailing Harri’s anecdotes in suitably hagiographic tones:
The premiership of Boris Johnson encapsulates a time like no other. From the war in Ukraine to the Covid pandemic, Guto Harri, one of Johnson’s closest allies and former Director of Comms, had a front row seat to it all.
That, er, would be the same three-year premiership in which Harri had a gig for barely seven months: most of which were spent trying and failing to save Johnson, unsuccessfully. Harri did his bit in the epic triumphs of those final days of course: he compared Chris Pincher to David Kelly, retweeted criticism of his boss and told reporters that Johnson ‘wasn’t a complete clown’.
When it comes to Downing Street spin doctors, Guto certainly was ‘unprecedented.’
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