Paul Richards is new labour spin doctor for health department
Former Fabian Society chair Paul Richards is set to be named as special adviser to health secretary Patricia Hewitt, with responsibility for presentation and communications.
Mr Richards will move into his Department of Health offices on 22 August, pending the successful conclusion of contract negotiations. He was approached after Dr Foster director of business development Matt Tee, originally offered the role, failed to agree terms and conditions.
Mr Richards, who has run his own public relations agency, PR Communications, for the last year has been involved with the Labour party for 20 years. He served as a party press officer in the late 1990s and edited Inside Labour magazine, which is sent to party members. He contested seats for Labour in the 1997 and 2001 elections but was unsuccessful.
He has also worked in the House of Commons, first for former Dewsbury MP and chief whip Ann Taylor and then for Hazel Blears when she was a junior health minister.
Mr Richards told HSJ: 'Health is a passion of mine. If you are in Labour party politics you can't avoid the politics of the health service and public health. I've always had a passion for the NHS.'
He added: 'I'm strongly in favour of the choice agenda, which plays to a very left-wing style of politics where the patients come first.'
He sits on the executive committee of the Fabian Society, the left-wing think tank, and was its chair from 2002-03.
Among the numerous books and pamphlets he has written are Be Your Own Spin Doctor and New Labour and the Politics of Participation in which he argues that decision making should be devolved to the community.
http://www.hsj.co.uk/nav?page=hsj.news.story&resource=2896073
Mr Richards will move into his Department of Health offices on 22 August, pending the successful conclusion of contract negotiations. He was approached after Dr Foster director of business development Matt Tee, originally offered the role, failed to agree terms and conditions.
Mr Richards, who has run his own public relations agency, PR Communications, for the last year has been involved with the Labour party for 20 years. He served as a party press officer in the late 1990s and edited Inside Labour magazine, which is sent to party members. He contested seats for Labour in the 1997 and 2001 elections but was unsuccessful.
He has also worked in the House of Commons, first for former Dewsbury MP and chief whip Ann Taylor and then for Hazel Blears when she was a junior health minister.
Mr Richards told HSJ: 'Health is a passion of mine. If you are in Labour party politics you can't avoid the politics of the health service and public health. I've always had a passion for the NHS.'
He added: 'I'm strongly in favour of the choice agenda, which plays to a very left-wing style of politics where the patients come first.'
He sits on the executive committee of the Fabian Society, the left-wing think tank, and was its chair from 2002-03.
Among the numerous books and pamphlets he has written are Be Your Own Spin Doctor and New Labour and the Politics of Participation in which he argues that decision making should be devolved to the community.
http://www.hsj.co.uk/nav?page=hsj.news.story&resource=2896073
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