Rishi Sunak suffers major blow as key No10 aide quits after less than a year
The woman in charge of leading Rishi Sunak's media operation and helping to turn his election woes around has quit after less than a year in the job. The PM hired Amber de Botton, who was previously ITV's head of news, as his all-powerful Director of Communications last October.
But in a shock post on social media this afternoon Ms de Botton said it was the "right time to move on" from Downing Street. The high-profile journalist's departure will be a blow to Mr Sunak, whose party is trailing 17 points behind Labour. Writing on Twitter, Ms de Botton said: "It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as the Prime Minister’s Director of Communications but I have decided it is the right time to move on. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Prime Minister for his support and his leadership. The team he has built around him is dedicated and focused because those are the qualities he inspires. I also want to thank my colleagues - No10 is a demanding and high pressure place to work - yet the professionalism and talent they display every day is exceptional."
The departure of Amber de Botton, who is a well known and high-profile journalist, will be a blow to Rishi Sunak, who is trailing behind Labour in the polls (amberdebotton/Twitter)At the time of Ms de Botton's appointment, ITV colleague Robert Peston said: “She is a brilliant news editor and journalist, and leaves a huge hole at ITV News.” It did not mark the first time Mr Sunak has drawn his communications team from ITV’s news and politics team. Allegra Stratton left ITV News in April 2020 to become then-Chancellor Mr Sunak’s Director of Strategic Communications. Six months later Ms Stratton moved to No10 to become Boris Johnson's Press Secretary, before ultimately resigning after video emerged of her joking with other members of No10’s press team about a Downing Street Christmas Party held during Covid lockdown.
The video was reported by ITV and contributed to Mr Johnson's downfall, alongside the Mirror's reporting on Partygate. Mr Sunak's appointment of Ms de Botton, who had been part of the ITV team who helped to expose Partygate, was likely to have ruffled Mr Johnson's feathers at the time.
According to the latest Savanta polling, just 32% of the public believe Ms Sunak would make the best PM, down two points from July, and now the lowest it's ever bee. Keir Starmer's score remains unchanged on 39%, indicating the largest lead Mr Starmer has had over the PM since he entered No.10. The Prime Minister, along with other government ministers, also saw his net favourability rating plummet by six points, from a net -14 in July to -20 in August. There are similar drops for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (down 7pts to -25) and Home Secretary Suella Braverman (down 4pts to -26), although James Cleverly remains unchanged (-13).
Out of touch Rishi Sunak doesn't regularly read papers or online news sites
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said: "Starmer's had larger leads over Conservative PMs, but they've almost exclusively come in the last throes of Johnson and Truss's tenures, and while Sunak isn't struggling quite to the same extent (yet), there is no obvious remedy to his ailing polling numbers that offers much hope for his party as we exit summer."
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