Robert Hill

Former Labour Party local Government officer, and Tony Blair's trusted health adviser and representative to the Department of Health. After the 2001 election he became Blair's Political Secretary and Head of the Political Office at No.10. He is an ultra-"modernist", responsible for the idea of NHS Direct. He is said to share the same core beliefs on health as Blair, and if he didn't like a health policy idea it was unlikely to happen. The Guardian ranked him as the most powerful person in the health sector in 2000.

He was a theology student and he used to work for the Audit Commission and Capita (one of Labour's favourite local government privatised service providers). He was an official with NUPE during the NHS strike in 1982. He was a press officer for Tony Blair before the 1997 election. After the election he immediately joined the Downing Street Policy Unit.