Ray Gallagher
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This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch. |
Ray Gallagher is a senior policy adviser to the culture secretary John Whittingdale.
Career
Gallagher worked for Sky for fifteen years, most notably as the head of public affairs.
From 2006 to 2015 he advised the Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee, which Whittingdale chaired. Journalist Nick Davies' book Hacked Off mentions Gallagher's 'mid-noughties committee appointment as a coup for Sky, but also notes another success of the broadcaster’s lobbying efforts back then – “when Whittingdale needed funds for his local cricket club, BSkyB made a donation of £3,000”'.[1]
In June 2015 he was appointed by his long-standing friend, Whittingdale, as a senior policy adviser. Gallagher's new role is distinct from Whittingdale's two spads, Carrie Symonds and Mimi Macejkova, in that he will become a civil servant so obliged to be politically impartial.[2]
Notes
- ↑ Media Monkey’s Diary: Chris Evans’ TFI plugs, Richard Desmond, Alan Yentob Guardian, 14 June 2015, accessed 15 July 2015.
- ↑ Hannah Gannagé-Stewart Whittingdale appoints former Sky exec as advisor Broadcast Now, 11 June 2015, accessed 15 July 2015.
