Guto Harri

Biography:

The last six months have been among the most turbulent in recent history for British politics, the U.K. and the world. War in the Ukraine, economic turmoil and a major cost of living crisis hit a vulnerable Prime Minister leading a fragile and discredited government just as the U.K. emerged from a global pandemic.

Guto Harri was at the heart of events in Downing Street with a front row seat as events unfolded.

As Director of Communications in No 10 he attended most of the key meetings, travelled with the Prime Minister as he sought to galvanise support for the Ukraine and shore up his own support at home. He was often the first person to speak to the PM in the morning and the last at night, and witnessed his anxiety, frustration and rage at relentless inquiries into “partygate” whilst trying to get a neurotic Conservative party and lethargic civil service to deliver the ambitious and tangible change he promised voters in 2019.  

He was on the line when President Zolenski told Boris Johnson that Russian forces had began their invasion, and listened in on calls with world leaders at Nato, the G7, China, the Gulf and European groupings.

He sat in on cabinet and meetings with the key figures in the next Conservative government (and has great insights on both leadership candidates).  

He was already wrestling with some of the severe challenges that lie ahead when Boris Johnson was toppled and will leave/left Downing Street when he hands over to a new PM on September 6.

Guto met Boris at Oxford in the late 1980’s and was served as his spokesman and chief of staff key in his first term as Mayor of London. He then sought to transform him “from celebrity to statesman” helping him to preside over a phenomenal London Olympics and get re-elected as London Mayor despite top level resignations, high profile sex scandals, policy setbacks and his capacity to upset David Cameron or fall in a river on camera.

Guto was then hired by Rupert Murdoch to help repair and rebuild the reputation of News International after the phone hacking scandal - a role that proved extremely valuable in preparing him for his recent stint in No10.

Guto began his career as a journalist with the BBC, covering the collapse of communism, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf war before focussing on British politics.  He was the BBC’s Chief Political Correspondent when he was posted to Rome and then New York.

In the last few years he has become a regulator commentator on the most of the major outlets on the BBC, ITV, CNN, Global Radio and others. He has written for the Times, Telegraph, New European and GQ.

During the pandemic Guto trained as a volunteer vaccinator and personally jabbed hundreds of people.  He has served as volunteer crew with the RNLI on the Thames since 2014, and received a Queen’s Jubilee medal for his service.  He is married with three children and enjoys food, friends, travel and boats.  He rows on the Thames and completed the Fastnet sailing race in 2018.