Liz Lloyd

Liz Lloyd is a former special adviser to the Labour Party.

Background

A former partner of Ed Miliband, Lloyd attended school in Guildford with Labour MP James Purnell (with whom she later shared a flat) and spindoctor Alastair Campbell's deputy in the Labour press office, Tim Allan. When Allan quit this position to join the BBC in 1994, Cambridge graduate Lloyd took over as adviser to Tony Blair. In 1998 Lloyd was listed as special adviser to the Policy Unit on Agriculture, Environment and Home Affairs. Lloyd married in 2002 and left No. 10 in 2005 to have a baby, returning in 2006 as Deputy Chief of Staff to then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In his memoirs, Tony Blair describes Lloyd as "like an English rose, intellectually able and blue stocking or red stocking, according to the occasion".

Lloyd was awarded a CBE in 2007.

2010, Labour and the Africa Governance Initiative

Lloyd is a trustee of charity the Africa Governance Initiative which provides advice on governance issues to countries such as Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Liberia. In 2010 the charity was rebuked by the Charity Commission watchdog following a series of emails sent prior to the election in which supporters were asked to back Labour's campaign for a fourth term. As it is illegal for registered charities to engage in political activity, Conservative MP Greg Hands complained to the Commission which investigated and issued "regulatory advice and guidance". The Commission also expressed concern at the closeness of the charity to the office staff of Tony Blair, many of whom were seconded to the Labour party during the election campaign. Registered in November 2009, the charity has not yet filed accounts.