James O'Shaughnessy

This article is part of the Lobbying Portal, a sunlight project from Spinwatch.

This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch.

James O'Shaughnessy was director of policy to the UK prime minister David Cameron between 2007 and 2011.

O'Shaughnessy was described as "the brains" behind the Tory general election manifesto" in 2010.

After leaving Downing Street O'Shaughnessy joined lobbying firm Portland Communications in January 2012 as 'chief policy adviser', a newly created position. He is also a 'visiting fellow' at the think tank Policy Exchange and a director at Mayforth Consulting, a 'start-up education, policy and research consultancy'. In May 2012 he was appointed an honorary senior research fellow at the University of Birmingham and head of group strategy at Wellington College.

As of July 2013 O'Shaughnessy was also the managing director at Floreat Education.

Valuable insights for Portland's clients

A statement issued by Portland said O'Shaughnessy would 'advise clients on the priorities of the coalition and in particular the Conservative party'. The Financial Times commented that, "His insights are likely to be valuable to Portland’s clients, which include Google, Apple, McDonalds, Vodafone and BAE Systems, given his insider’s view not only of Conservative thinking but also that of the Liberal Democrats.

Background

A PPE graduate of St Hugh's College, Oxford, 33 year old O’Shaugnessy was ranked 89th in a list of the 'Top 100 most influential Right-wingers' by The Telegraph in October 2009.

He originally joined Conservative Central Office (CCO) in 2001 where he was special adviser to the then Shadow Education Secretary Damian Green. After leaving the CCO, O’Shaugnessy was appointed head of research at LLM Communications.

From 2004 he was a 'leading light' at right-wing think thank Policy Exchange, leaving to rejoin the Conservatives in 2007 as Director of Policy and Research. Of this move back to the Conservatives, New Statesman journalist Tara Hamilton-Miller remarked:

the appointment of James O'Shaughnessy as director of research and policy is significant. O'Shaughnessy has come from the think tank Policy Exchange, producing some of its most interesting ideas. Historically, heads of research have been comfortable with their policy-wonk geek persona. O'Shaughnessy is different. He understands the importance of the media. One of his first tasks will be to see how the research and press departments can work better as a team. One area he will fine-tune, having specialised in public services, is education and welfare.

In 2008, he told Conservative councillors that the party need to present the the "change you can trust" theme - a direct lift from the Barack Obama campaign, according to Cameron biographers Francis Elliott and James Hanning. He also identified four key objectives for the year: winning the London mayoralty, gaining support in the north, establishing the Tories as the party of economic competence and maintaining 10-point lead in the opinion polls.

CV

• Director, Mayforth Consulting, January 2012 – Present, London, United Kingdom
• Chief Policy Adviser, Portland Communications, January 2012 – Present (1 month)
• Visiting Fellow, Policy Exchange, January 2012 – Present
• Director of Policy to the Prime Minister, No.10 Downing Street,
• Head of Policy and Research, Conservative Party, September 2007 – May 2010 (2 years 9 months)
• Deputy Director, Policy Exchange, June 2004 – September 2007 (3 years 4 months)
• Head of Research, LLM Communications, June 2003 – May 2004 (1 year) London,
• Special Adviser, Education and Skills, Conservative Party, June 2001 – May 2003 (2 years) London

Affiliations

• David Cameron
• Conservative Party
• Policy Exchange - former roles as deputy director and chief researcher

Resources

• Twitter @jamesosh