From LADbible to No 10: Ex-government comms chief lifts lid on his time in Downing Street during Covid

Like the rest of the UK tuning in at home, the communications team either found out about important updates just before the press conferences or as they were announced live.

“Usually with a campaign, you’d get a bit of notice even if it’s only a day or two. We weren’t getting any notice, we were literally listening and watching and then having to take that message and turn it into social content,” he explains. “We had to do things really, really fast.”

It wasn’t just getting information out as quickly as possible to the public, working closely with the big social networks from Meta, TikTok and WhatsApp were crucial in pushing out the message too. “On social media, you’d suddenly see our content. Google allowed us to have their homepage, which is almost impossible to get access to.”

Attempting to reach the public, including marginalised communities, was just one part of the challenge. Whether it was eye-test trips to Barnard Castle, affair scandals or Downing Street staff parties, crisis after crisis began to emerge behind the scenes, making his job increasingly difficult.

“When ministers were saying or doing the wrong thing, it was undermining our ability to do our jobs effectively and gain the public’s trust.

“We were being told by the government to get back out to work and we were trying to convince the public to do the right thing, social distance and follow the rules. Then you’re hearing about Dominic Cummings or Matt Hancock, it did have some impact on our work.

“As soon as the public sees people in power not behaving appropriately, it allows them to say: ‘Well, the rules don’t apply and therefore they don’t apply to me either’.

“The level of political infighting and mistakes – it wasn’t just one or two, it was many. As a result, it chipped away at the trust the public had.”

Despite the backlash facing the government over its handling of the pandemic, he still gives credit to ministers. 

“This all happened so quickly,” he explains. Trying to mobilise the country, especially from a communications perspective, was similar to a “war situation”. 

“There were always going to be some mistakes in a pandemic because we hadn’t had one for around 100 years.

“If the government ever has a crisis like that again, we will be much better at dealing with it. I think that applies to all governments across the world.”

Conspiracy theories and launching The Future Communicator

From 5G to an alleged depopulation plan, wild conspiracy theories and myths about the origins of Covid began to spread just as quickly as the virus did.

Overseeing various departments including the small social team in charge of the prime minister and UK government social channels, he was also responsible for a team called ‘rapid response unit’, tasked with countering misinformation.