by Atul Hatwal

One of the longest running vacancies in politics was finally filled earlier this week. Over a year after he became leader, Ed Miliband has appointed a chief of staff: Tim Livesey.

The role of chief of staff is an essential part of the leader’s office. Part project manager, part adviser, wholly accountable for the smooth running of the leader’s world, whatever is going on, particularly if it’s going wrong, the buck stops with the chief of staff.

The billing for Tim Livesey is that he is a heavyweight appointment. He’s the man who will bring experience and assurance to the running of the team.

Following a difficult year with problems ranging from avoidable flurries such as the recent confusion around the departure of Ayesha Hazarika from PMQ preparation duties, to major misjudgements like that conference speech, a firmer hand on the tiller will clearly help.

Tim Livesey’s background seems to fit the bill. A high flying career in the foreign office, media experience as assistant press secretary to Tony Blair and the best part of a decade in the service of the Archbishop of Canterbury, principally running his PR operation, mean he has the type of broad experience required.

Using Livesey’s record to divine (so to speak) the type of advice he will give to the Labour leader, three incidents stand out.

First, his comments in a seminar about how politicians should present themselves in the media; second, the row over the church of England’s ham-fisted intervention on gay adoption; and third, his role in Rowan Williams’ controversial sharia law speech.

Just before Tony Blair left office, in one of his final speeches, he discussed the adverse impact of the media on public life. In a subsequent seminar, Tim Livesey was on the panel discussing this view.

Notably, given Livesey’s new job, he disagreed with Blair’s view that politicians needed more effective press offices to ensure that their message was heard. Instead, he felt that politicians needed to communicate as themselves and that it was the media who had a responsibility to humanise rather than dehumanise.

It is a laudable view. One that is likely to chime with Ed Miliband’s own desire for a more civilised political discourse. But whether it’s practical is another matter. Regardless of how much people wish that the media were different, and that the world were a nicer place, the rules of the game are unlikely to change soon.

The tendency towards West Wing cliché – let Ed be Ed – is already strong enough in the leader’s entourage. If Livesey adds to this, and bolsters Ed Miliband’s reluctance to operate on the media’s terms, the task of getting Labour’s message out will become that much harder.

Second, there was Rowan Williams and John Sentamu’s letter to Tony Blair in 2007 backing the catholic church’s attempt to exempt itself from the equality act and maintain discrimination against gay couples in its adoption services.

There were two elements in this episode which raise questions for Livesey in his new role.

First, if Ed Miliband’s chief of staff currently believes that discrimination against gay couples on adoption is justified on religious grounds, then that will give many cause for concern given his senior position advising the leader.

Second, there was the professionalism of how the issue was handled. Based on Williams and Sentamu’s beliefs, it might have been the right thing to do, but the letter was sent late in the process after policy was long decided and positioned the church of England as trailing after the catholic church.

Number ten did not have any idea the letter was coming and the effect was to make the church of England look more impotent than ever. Hardly a strategic triumph that is the basis for prime time political decision-making.

The PR car crash of the archbishops’ letter was echoed a year later in Rowan Williams’ speech on sharia law.

In 2008, the archbishop of Canterbury delivered a speech where the headlines were that the incorporation of aspects of sharia law into UK law seemed unavoidable and that a situation where all had to abide by a single set of laws wasn’t desirable.

The actual message that Williams was attempting to deliver was no doubt nuanced, certainly compared to the reporting, but Livesey’s judgement in not anticipating the media reaction to the speech is surprising.

As Ed Miliband’s most senior adviser he will be widely consulted on the content of the leader’s speeches and policy announcements.

Although Tom Baldwin and Bob Roberts are there to raise media red flags, the chief of staff will need to have a tight grip on what is and what is not acceptable if he is to wield the authority the role requires.

It’s entirely possible, even likely, that Livesey will have learnt from these mis-steps. But in the past five years, there aren’t many instances where the archbishop of Canterbury is widely seen to have made the correct small ‘p’ political judgements on the major issues, or handled the media well.

This could have been down to Rowan Williams’ own judgement, but Ed Miliband is in need of the best possible support to turn around Labour’s fortunes. Tim Livesey will probably improve the management of the leader’s office, but for all the knowledge and contacts he brings to the role, the archbishop of Canterbury’s performance under his guidance was far from ideal.

Atul Hatwal is associate editor of Labour Uncut.

Tags: archbishop of Canterbury, Atul Hatwal, chief of staff, Ed Miliband, Tim Livesey

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