Hillary Coffman
Hillary Coffman is a former special adviser to the Labour Party.[1]
Background
Previously a spokesperson for former Labour leaders Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock and John Smith[2] Coffman was a special adviser and press officer for Tony Blair's Labour government at Downing Street from 1997. She worked with Blair during the 2001 election[3] and was latterly employed as spindoctor to Blair's wife Cherie Blair.[4] Coffman remained with the party "as a trusted, hugely professional and experienced aide"[5] until Blair's departure in 2007 at which point Coffman and her partner and colleague David Hill were reportedly "disappearing on a lengthy holiday before deciding what to do next".[6]
Coffman was previously married to David Seymour, Labour spindoctor Alastair Campbell's associate editor at the Daily Mirror.[7] She is now the wife of David Hill, a lobbyist for Bell Pottinger and former adviser to Blair.[8]
In an article introducing Blair's 'Babe's on the Bus', Benedict Brogan writes in The Telegraph of Coffman's "unswerving loyalty" to Labour:
- ...Hilary Coffman, Mr Blair's most experienced press officer. Described by one writer as "elegant and beautiful" last week, she is a survivor who first worked for Michael Foot and has been one of Labour's most effective insiders ever since.
- In 1988 she was briefly held prisoner by Zimbabwean soldiers with Neil Kinnock on his tour of Africa. Her ability to laugh at the often surreal situations in which Mr Blair finds himself - visiting a decontamination chamber in Stafford, for example - masks an unswerving loyalty to the party.[9]
Contact, Resources, Notes
Notes
- ↑ Info-Dynamics Research, "Where are they now? The 1997/1998 Special Advisers to the Labour Government", GMB: April 2006 Briefing, p11, accessed 12.09.10
- ↑ Andrew Pierce, "Cherie heads for three paydays in US", The Telegraph, 11.05.07, accessed 15.09.10
- ↑ Info-Dynamics Research, "Where are they now? The 1997/1998 Special Advisers to the Labour Government", GMB: April 2006 Briefing, p11, accessed 12.09.10
- ↑ Toby Helm, "The final curtain", The Telegraph, 23.06.07, accessed 15.09.10
- ↑ Nick Assinder, "Blair loses his 'king of spin'", BBC, 29.08.03, accessed 15.09.10
- ↑ Toby Helm, "The final curtain", The Telegraph, 23.06.07, accessed 15.09.10
- ↑ Gordon MacMillan, "Chime's Dave Hill to replace Campbell as Blair media chief", Marketing Magazine, 11.08.03, accessed 15.09.10
- ↑ Nick Cohen, "The cost of apathy", The Guardian, 10.06.01, accessed 15.09.10
- ↑ Benedict Brogan, "Babes on the Bus who keep the campaign journalists at bay" The Telegraph, 01.06.01, accessed 15.09.10
