All change at Westminster.

A new government means a new political landscape. New relationships to build, new priorities to understand and a new ecosystem of advisors and influencers to navigate. 

For organisations wanting to engage with Westminster, it means ‘all change’. A period of revising strategies, resetting objectives and renewing approaches. 

In the likelihood that Labour would take power at some point this year, albeit earlier than we predicted . . . we’re good, but even we’re not that good . . . we’ve been focusing on building our Labour team, ready to support our clients with the switch from blue to red. Bringing in people who have spent years embedded in the internal fight for Labour’s future, who know the party inside out, with the connections and networks that will give our clients a huge advantage in navigating the new Labour administration. 

A mix of strategic hires and internal transfers have bolstered our team and added a combined 25 years’ experience of working directly for the Labour Party to our already pretty talented government relations team. 

Ali Craft, who had been leading engagement with local government in London, has shifted to working as a Director on national government relations. He worked for over 11 years in the Labour Party, culminating as Deputy Director for London. After leaving, he worked to support Labour MPs facing deselection battles and was then asked by Morgan McSweeney to join Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign and played an integral role in the party rule changes that solidified the hold of Starmer on the party.  

Kayleigh Quinn joined us from the Labour Party in Scotland. She worked on field campaigns and battleground strategy for 10 years, with her final contribution to the party being the successful Rutherglen by-election campaign. She was also President of the Labour Party GMB Trade Union Branch, representing almost 300 members of Labour Party staff giving her a broad understanding of the party throughout the UK.  

Jacob Tilley brings over a decade of experience as a political and communications professional to Cavendish. Before joining us, he was the public affairs lead at Heathrow Airport, where he played a pivotal role on critical issues such as the airport’s expansion, trade and Net Zero. An experienced Labour operator he was an organiser in Wales and London, part of Yevette Cooper’s leadership campaign and Labour HQ’s Targeting and Data Manager.  

Visit our 2024 General Elections Hub here for more information on the results, insight, analysis and opinion that will help your organisation navigate the new Parliament and beyond.