Big changes afoot tonight in Sir Keir Starmer’s top team: his head of communications Ben Nunn has stepped down to pursue other projects, with deputy Paul Ovenden also resigning for family reasons. Steph Driver is taking over as director of comms while plans are being made for the new direction of the team.
I understand that Nunn and Ovenden’s departures really aren’t for the same reasons. The latter has a young family and new caring responsibilities which he has decided he has to put first, but he is a particular loss for Starmer. He was very efficient and well-liked in the parliamentary press gallery (not always a given for opposition comms chiefs, if recent years are anything to go by), and most importantly had a very clear idea of how the party should be communicating with its lost voters, particularly by focusing on towns that felt left behind and a sense of identify. That these ideas weren’t always carried through was largely down to dysfunction in other parts of the operation.
Nunn was a more complex figure who seemed to have a number of personal stand-offs with other teams in the party. There were some theories that deteriorating relations between Angela Rayner and the leader were at least in part his influence. But he was experienced, loyal to Starmer and someone who understood what makes the leader tick.
Driver has been asked to step up and is an effective and well-liked figure in the party. She has been in its headquarters during some of its toughest years while also retaining a sense of reality, which isn’t easy. Her first task will surely be to stop Starmer from changing tack on almost everything on such a regular basis.
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