Team Johnson poured onto the pavements of Downing Street yesterday to watch the new Prime Minister give his first speech.
Everyone from behind-the-scenes employees to top advisers and strategists flanked Mr Johnson’s girlfriend Carrie Symonds to cheer on the newly-elected Tory leader before he was handed the keys to No. 10.
Among the crowd were long-term associates, new recruits with a proven track record of success, and a swathe of key figures from the Vote Leave team that won the 2016 EU referendum.
Team Johnson poured onto the pavements of Downing Street yesterday to watch the new Prime Minister give his first speech. From one to nine: Eddie Lister, Carrie Symonds, Shelley Williams, Will Walden, Damon Poole, Liam Booth-Smith, Lucia Hodgson, Andrew Griffith and Munira Mirza
Everyone from behind-the-scenes employees to top advisers and strategists flanked Mr Johnson’s girlfriend Carrie Symonds to cheer on the newly-elected Tory leader
Mr Johnson has assembled the team to help deliver on his ‘do or die’ Brexit pledge. They include:
1 – Eddie Lister, Chief of Staff
When the result of the ballot was announced on Tuesday, it was Eddie Lister who was sitting next to Johnson.
At 69, he’s the oldest member of Team Boris, and will operate as chief of staff but without the title.
Eddie Lister (pictured with Carrie Symonds), 69, will operate as chief of staff but without the title
For 19 years he was leader of flagship Tory Wandsworth Council, consistently delivering the lowest council tax in the country.
In 2011, he became Johnson’s chief of staff at City Hall and masterminded his re-election as mayor in 2012.
Sir Edward is the working-class grit in the Old Etonian oyster – he went to a state school in Lambeth and never went to university.
His reputation as ‘Steady Eddie’ will be tested to the limit.
2- Carrie Symonds , Boris’ girlfriend
It has not yet been confirmed what role former Tory spin-doctor Ms Symonds will play when it comes to Johnson’s role.
Most Prime Ministers usually pose for a photo with their significant other when entering 10 Downing Street, however Ms Symonds was pictured on the sidelines during the event.
It is not yet known whether Ms Symonds (pictured above) will be given a formal role in Mr Johnson’s team
Many had credited Ms Symonds with Mr Johnson’s new slim figure and tidier haircut, however sources have also said Mr Johnson’s inner circle are against her having a formal role.
She previously held a communications role in the Conservative Party, where she helped promote policies on animal welfare, before moving to Oceana, which is a group aiming to support the world’s oceans.
3 – Shelley Williams-Walker, Foreign Office Head of Operations
Having previously worked with the foreign secretary at the Foreign Office, Shelley Williams-Walker has been brought in to the team to lead its operations team.
Along with Lucia Hodgson is one of the few women in the higher echelons of Team Boris.
Shelley Williams-Walker (pictured behind Mr Johnson’s girlfriend) has been brought into Team Boris to lead its operations team at the Foreign Office
She has managed to stay relatively out of the public eye since being appointed to the operations team and hasn’t posted on social media networking sites such as Twitter since February
She has managed to stay relatively out of the public eye since being appointed to the operations team and hasn’t posted on social media networking sites such as Twitter since February.
She had previously however posted links to news articles of Johnson laying flowers at the scene of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov’s murder in 2017 and seemed to have been in attendance with him during the campaign trail for the general election in 2017.
4 – Will Walden, Communications Director
Will Walden will act as a behind-the-scenes troubleshooter for Johnson
A long term associate of Mr Johnson, Will Walden, 48, was his communications director when he was mayor of London between 2008 and 2016.
For the first four months of the Johnson premiership, the bulky figure of Mr Walden will act as a troubleshooter behind the scenes.
He is famously unkempt, and can deploy colourful language to make his point.
The committed Brexiteer held senior posts over 13 years at the BBC, starting off at a sports producer and reporter in 1999. He then moved through various roles such as news editor, Labour election editor and even worked as a foreign news producer.
His last role at the broadcaster was Westminster news editor, where he was responsible for planning and coverage for TV, radio and online news.
He has over 25 years experience in the national media as well as experience in crisis communications.
Walden (pictured, right, with Andrew Marr) held senior posts over 13 years at the BBC
Damon Poole (pictured above) will be in charge of broadcasting
5- Damon Poole, broadcasting chief
Mr Poole is currently a director at PR firm Brunswick and will be in charge of broadcasting for the new Prime Minister.
A staunt ‘vote leave’ campaigner, he is set to guide Johnson’s television and radio appearances.
In 2017 he also worked for The Conservative Party as part of the Prime Minister’s operation team, prior to this he had worked as head of research at Change Britain.
He studied a degree in Philosophy and Politics at Durham University in 2012, here he joined the Investment and Finance Society.
Prior to his time at Durham he had been a pupil at Bromsgrove High School and has studied A-Levels in Economics, Government and Politics and History.
6 – Liam Booth-Smith, Deputy Chief of Staff
A former think-tank boss and special adviser to Housing Secretary James Brokenshire, Liam Booth-Smith will act as one of three three deputy chiefs of staff and liaise over policy.
In the past he has had some un-Tory views on housing, including telling homeowners they may have to accept a fall in prices to solve the crisis among young people, saying: ‘Homeowners have to accept new homes will be built in their area. Their home may lose value, it may rise in value, but that value will be fictional if no-one has the financial capacity to buy it.’
A former think-tank boss and special adviser to Housing Secretary James Brokenshire, Liam Booth-Smith will liase over policy
He held roles as head of research and communications at iMPOWER, before becoming a chief executive at think tank Localis
He has also advised against lifting the public sector pay cap and suggested greater devolution in areas like industrial regeneration and tax.
In terms of education, Mr Booth-Smith attended Newcastle-under-Lyme School from 1997-2002.
He then went on to secondary school at Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form college before winning a place at Loughborough University where he studied a BA Hons degree in Politics and Social Policy.
After finishing his degree he went on to work at the New Local Government Network as a networks co-coordinator. After over a year there he spent seven months at City and Guilds before returning and eventually becoming head of communications.
He then held roles as head of research and communications at iMPOWER, before becoming a chief executive at think tank Localis.
It was after a two-year stint here that he went on to be a special adviser to the secretary of state, minister for housing, communities and local government.
He has also previously penned columns and articles for national media organisations and had frequently appeared on the Sky News paper review show.
7 – Lucia Hodgson, Speechwriter
Deputy press secretary Lucia Hodgson, 32, will look after newspaper columnists and television and radio interrogators.
A staunch Brexiteer, she became a speech writer in 2013 but was ridiculed after giving tips on speeches including the memorable ‘remember to breathe’.
Ms Hodgson was a speechwriter for Defra, the Department for Education and Department for Communities and Local Government.
With her background she will be able to help Mr Johnson with his public speaking, which often goes off on tangents with Classical references and the occasional waft of Latin.
Deputy press secretary Lucia Hodgson (centre), 32, will look after newspaper columnists and television and radio interrogators
She is reportedly being lined up to be Mr Johnson’s deputy press secretary in Downing Street.
In 2009 Ms Hodgson studied a Master’s degree in Political Communication at the University of Glasgow.
She then became a speech writer in 2013. In 2015 she released a podcast entitled ‘Speech writing from Westminster to Whitehall’.
In 2016 she also appeared on the BBC to offer advise to those who would be participating in TV debates during the European referendum. In it she included her top tips such as taking a breath.
She also said that even if you are a ‘charismatic speaker’, that you may need more than this to win over audiences and will have to be prepared. She also said if ‘you have been playing fast and loose with the truth then you will be found out’.
Her other tips were to make sure ‘numbers were checked’ and to ‘keep calm’, stating that there was ‘no finer way to lose and an argument than losing your cool’.
8 – Andrew Griffith, Corporate Adviser
After famously issuing his impromptu aside, ‘f*** business’, last year over British companies’ apparent hostility towards Brexit, Johnson has serious bridges to build with the business community.
Andrew Griffith, 48, has been chosen as the man for the job, as his corporate adviser.
Andrew Griffith, 48, watches Boris deliver his first speech as Prime Minister in Downing Street today
He is currently chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Sky, having joined in 1999 and presided over the dynamic transformation of the company
He is currently chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Sky, having joined in 1999 and presided over the dynamic transformation of the company.
He has no chair in his office – preferring to stand, thereby ensuring better energy levels and shorter conversations.
Mr Johnson used his £9.5 million Westminster townhouse as a campaign base.
9 – Munira Mirza, Director of Policy
Another recruit from Johnson’s days at City Hall, Munira Mirza, 41, was his deputy mayor for education.
She was also his culture adviser and took great delight in upsetting the politically correct brigade.
Another recruit from Johnson’s days at City Hall, Munira Mirza (in orange trousers, peering on as Boris delivered his speech outside No. 10) , 41, was his deputy mayor for education
Oldham-born, Oxford-educated Mirza has been touted as a future Mayor of London
As director of policy, Mirza will come into her own if and when Britain leaves the EU – and the Government can finally concentrate on domestic initiatives.
The Oldham-born, Oxford-educated academic is popular among Johnson’s team, with a colleague saying: ‘She has a huge brain but wears it lightly. She is hugely important.’
She is already being talked of as a future London mayoral candidate.
