Boris Johnson criticised for male-dominated campaign team

Boris Johnson has been criticised for surrounding himself with an almost entirely male team to run his election campaign, as he brought in the Australian election guru Sir Lynton Crosby’s business partner to professionalise the operation.

The frontrunner to be prime minister has beefed up his team with two senior advisers: Iain Duncan Smith, who is his new campaign chairman, and Mark Fullbrook, an election consultant who works with Crosby.

Fullbrook is now in charge of the day-to-day running of the campaign, taking over from the former MP James Wharton and Gavin Williamson, the former defence secretary, who led the parliamentary phase of the contest.

Campaign sources said Wharton and Williamson would still be “integral” to Johnson’s election effort but it had always been understood that they would step back when the focus turned to winning over Conservative members.

Personal style

A late-night altercation between Tory leadership favourite, Boris Johnson, and his partner, Carrie Symonds have changed the dynamics of Johnson's campaign. He had been either invisible or deliberately sober to the point of dullness, when his usual primary draw to Tory members is a self-created sense of optimism and fun. Much is also made of his supposed broad appeal to the electorate, evidenced by two terms as London mayor.

His bizarre claim to make model cardboard buses has raised eyebrows. In most political contests, Johnson’s character – he has lost more than one job for lying, and has a complex and opaque personal life – would be a big issue, but among the Tory faithful he seemingly receives a free pass. It remains to be seen what impact that late-night police visit will have on his chances. 

Brexit

He has promised to push for a new deal while insisting the UK will leave the EU come what may on 31 October, even if it involves no deal. While his hard Brexit supporters are adamant this is a cast-iron guarantee of leaving on that date, elsewhere Johnson has been somewhat less definitive. Asked about the date in a BBC TV debate, Johnson said only that it was 'eminently feasible', although he then went on to tell TalkRadio that the 31 October deadline was 'do or die'.

Taxation

His main pledge has been to raise the threshold for the 40% higher tax rate from £50,000 to £80,000, at a cost of almost £10bn a year, which would help about 3 million higher earners, a demographic with a fairly sizeable crossover into Tory members. Johnson’s camp insist it would be part of a wider – and so far unknown – package of tax changes.

Public spending

He has said relatively little, beyond promising a fairly small increase in schools funding, as well as talking about the need to roll out fast broadband across the country. Johnson has generally hinted he would loosen the purse strings, but given his prior fondness for big-ticket projects – London’s cancelled garden bridge, the mooted 'Boris island' airport – perhaps expect more of a focus on infrastructure projects than services.

Climate and environment

This is unlikely to be a big issue for Conservative party members, and Johnson has not said much on this beyond confirming his general support for the new government target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to a net zero by 2050.

Foreign policy

Also unlikely to be a big issue among Tory members, beyond vague platitudes on 'global Britain', it could be a weak spot for Johnson given his poor performance as foreign secretary. He was seen as something of a joke by diplomats – both UK and foreign – and is likely to face more questioning over his gaffe about the jailed British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Peter Walker Political correspondent

Other senior male aides include Will Walden, Johnson’s former media chief who is providing strategic advice; Oliver Lewis, his policy chief from Hanbury Strategy; Lee Cain, his chief media spokesman; Sir Edward Lister, who is in charge of transition; Ben Gascoigne, who has a private secretary style role; and Oliver Dowden MP and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who are also working on his path to No 10.

A Johnson team source rejected the idea that all his most senior advisers were men, pointing to Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, who has taken on a policy advisory role, and supportive female MPs such as Priti Patel. Another female team member is Shirley Walker-Williams, a former Foreign Office official, who is running operations.

The Labour MP Jess Phillips said Johnson has “once again shown what the women in his party and the women in the country can expect from him – to be ignored and forgotten”, adding that “anyone would think he was lying when he said he was a feminist”.

Jo Swinson, a Lib Dem leadership contender, said: “Boris is a man who talked about patting his female publisher on the bottom and described female Olympic athletes as glistening like wet otters.

“He doesn’t respect women in public; it shouldn’t surprise people he doesn’t want to listen to them in private either.”

Johnson has shaken up his team for the second phase of the leadership contest amid concerns among Eurosceptics that he was retreating from his commitment to leave on 31 October, which he reinforced on Tuesday.

Some of Johnson’s team have been rolling their eyes at Duncan Smith’s claims to be in charge of the campaign, but he is seen as important in reassuring pro-Brexit supporters of Johnson that he will not resile from that pledge.

Duncan Smith’s position is thought to be that Johnson should be unleashed rather than hidden away during the campaign, as his personality is part of his appeal, regardless of gaffes.

However, Fullbrook is the most powerful person on the campaign team, and he is in charge of daily operations, planning and strategy.

The political consultant has a strong knowledge of the party base and its internal workings, which is seen as a key asset as Johnson seeks the votes of 160,000 members.

Fullbrook helped run two successful London mayoral campaigns for Johnson but was also in charge of Zac Goldsmith’s failed run against Labour’s Sadiq Khan, which was accused of being racist and Islamophobic. He is an expert on polling and election strategy.

Johnson speaks to Crosby, who also worked on his mayoral campaigns, every day but he is not officially involved this time, according to campaign sources.

Figures from Johnson’s time at City Hall have been tapped up to help with his “transition” to No 10. MPs said Lister,Johnson’s former deputy, was leading that team alongside Hancock and Dowden.

Cain is Johnson’s chief media spokesman, a former journalist who has advised several cabinet ministers and worked on the Vote Leave campaign. The FT reported that he would not necessarily follow his boss into No 10 as he may regard getting him there as “job done”.

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Another influential media adviser is Richard Holden, an experienced operator who has worked as a special adviser for several cabinet ministers and at Conservative central office. Rosie Bate-Williams, a former Tory press officer, is handling regional media.

On policy, Johnson has given a job to Truss, one of his early backers. However, Lewis has the title of policy chief, and there are numerous others on the team, including a former adviser at City Hall, Alex Crowley, and Ben Mallet, an international elections expert.

Johnson’s team

Iain Duncan Smith Johnson once supported the Europhile centrist Ken Clarke for the leadership of the Conservative party instead of the eventual winner, the Maastricht rebel Duncan Smith. Now he has appointed Duncan Smith as chair of his leadership campaign to keep Eurosceptics on board.

Mark Fullbrook The business partner of Lynton Crosby is an expert on polling and election strategy and has been brought in to professionalise the operation.

James Wharton The former MP has been running Johnson’s campaign so far and has been in charge of negotiations over broadcast appearances and hustings, but Fullbrook appears to be taking control of the operation.

Will Walden Walden was Johnson’s closest aide at City Hall and during the Vote Leave campaign. He went into the private sector to work for PR firm Edelman but has returned to provide strategic advice.

Sir Edward Lister Johnson’s former deputy’s at City Hall is seen as a grownup who gets things done. He is in charge of the “transition” to Downing Street.

Carrie Symonds The role of Johnson’s girlfriend is unclear as she has no official position on the team but she has had an influence on making over his image. Johnson campaign sources have indicated that people close to her released a photograph of the pair together after police were called to her flat following a late-night altercation between them.