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.
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