HEALTH Secretary Wes Streeting’s fiance has been appointed to a top job at Labour headquarters in a move which will raise further questions about nepotism in the party.
Former government special adviser and public affairs consultant Joe Dancey will take on a new role as Labour’s executive director of policy and communications, The Times reports.
It is a newly created role and pays an annual salary of £104,985. The Labour HQ job was created after a shake-up of Keir Starmer’s top team when the Prime Minister sacked Sue Gray (below) as his chief of staff.
Gray’s departure saw Matthew Doyle, former director of communications, and Stuart Ingham, former head of policy, take up new Government jobs.
Dancey has worked for New Labour grandees Peter Mandelson and Valerie Amos. He also worked for Tory peer Sebastian Coe when he was chair of the London Olympics organising committee.
More recently, he launched his own political consultancy Endeavour Advisory, which does not publish its clients.
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He ran unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate in Stockton West, losing to Tory Matt Vickers by 2139 votes.
Dancey joins a large network of influential figures with family links within the party. Party chair Ellie Reeves is the sister of Chancellor Rachel Reeves while Ingham, now head of the Downing Street policy unit, is married to Jess Leigh, a special adviser to Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary.
Pat McFadden (above), head of Labour’s General Election campaign and now Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster worked closely with his wife Marianna, who was the deputy campaign director.
New MPs Hamish Falconer and Georgia Gould both have fathers in the House of Lords and were promoted to Government roles after their election in July.
Gray's son, Liam Conlon was also elected as a Labour MP earlier this year.
The Times reported that his appointment tightened the grip of the Blairite faction in Labour over their internal infrastructure, which is expected to remain close with Downing Street as the party aim to maintain their majority with the Government said to want to remain on a permanent campaign footing.
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