By Peter Hoskin
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Change is afoot in Wonkland. ConservativeHome can reveal that Mark MacGregor has been appointed as Deputy Director of Policy Exchange, replacing David Skelton, who
has, of course, departed to run a group dedicated to broadening
the Conservative Party’s appeal in the North and elsewhere. Mr MacGregor
will operate alongside the recently
appointed Director of Policy Exchange, Dean Godson.
Many
of you will recognise Mr MacGregor’s name from the party’s near past. He was,
and then wasn’t, Chief Executive of CCHQ during the tumultuous Iain Duncan
Smith years. And he went on to manage Steven Norris’s campaign for the London
mayoralty in 2004. Since 2007, he’s been in the private sector, as CEO of
Connect Support Services, an IT company which, incidentally, was founded by
Adam Afriyie.
Mr
MacGregor’s return to Westminster means that Policy Exchange now has quite a
collection of modernising former party advisers at its disposal, including Sean
Worth and James O'Shaughnessy. Their continuing influence is assured.