This post is a summary of what I have been up to since leaving №10 a year ago, how I am now going to try and help with the employment challenge coming up and a call to action for how you can help.
When I left Downing Street a year ago, having been a business advisor to the Prime Minister, I was embarking not just on career change. I was facing one of life’s biggest adventures, becoming a dad. …
I wrote a piece in February about the options available to people when they left Government, leaning on my experience of when I was in10 Downing Street and the advice I gave to people. I had lots of former SpAds, and even some Cabinet Ministers get in touch to say how helpful they found the piece. More surprisingly, there were others from different walks of life who said they were considering a career change and found it useful.
Therefore I thought with a lot of people being furloughed and potentially being forced into changing careers, I would update the piece…
Finding out you are losing your job via Twitter is horrendous, ironically on most occasions it would lead to a social media outcry, but for Special Advisers (SpAds) in UK politics, it’s the grim reality.
Your boss has been called to see the Prime Minister, you know it probably is not good news and then finally a tweet from Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC Political Editor confirms it:
‘Smith OUT’.
Three letters that means that you are most likely out too. …
On Monday I will visit Wembley for the fourth time as a Derby County fan, every time I’ve gone it was conjures up a different set of emotions of excitement and raw nervousness, always thinking could this season be our season?.
All Derby fans if they are honest, will have hoped for the play offs at the start of the season, albeit at the top end of expectations.
‘Put a decent run together, we could sneak in to the play offs and with a bit of momentum, you never know it could be our season’
Those immortal words ‘it could…
Former Special Adviser to UK Prime Minister on business specifically technology & entrepreneurship currently studying at Stanford GSB. Derby County OBE