Meet Rishi’s new mouthpiece: ITV’s UK mother-of-two news chief Amber de Botton is PM Sunak’s new director of communications – just months after she mocked him on Twitter
- Amber de Botton described as ‘brilliant news editor’ by ITV editor Robert Peston
- High praise from Sky’s Beth Rigby who branded her a ‘talented political operator’
- Ms De Botton mocked Mr Sunak’s photocall on a staircase inside No.11 last year
Rishi Sunak has hired ITV’s UK news chief Amber de Botton as his director of communications – just months after she mocked him on Twitter for his ‘bizarre’ staircase photocall as chancellor.
Downing Street confirmed the new hire after it was announced on Twitter by ITV’s political editor Robert Peston.
He said the mother-of-two was a ‘brilliant news editor and journalist’ who will leave a ‘huge hole at ITV News.’
The Durham University graduate also received high praise from Beth Rigby, political editor at Sky News, where Ms De Botton previously worked as Deputy Head of Politics.
Ms Rigby wrote: ‘She’s a seriously talented news editor & political operator, now heading to No 10 to direct PM’s communications strategy. They mean business.’
Unlike an impartial civil servant, as a special adviser Ms De Botton will be able to give political advice to ministers, defend the Government’s actions and criticise opposition parties.
Rishi Sunak has hired ITV’s UK news chief Amber de Botton (pictured) as his director of communications
Mr Sunak appointed ITV News’s former national editor Allegra Stratton as his director of strategic communications in 2020 when he was chancellor, before she was poached a few months later to become Boris Johnson’s spokeswoman for televised briefings.
It was ITV that obtained a video of Ms Stratton joking about a ‘fictional party’ at a mock press conference days after an allegedly rule-breaching Christmas party at No 10. She resigned a day later.
In March 2021, Ms De Botton mocked a now infamous press photo which showed Mr Sunak, who was chancellor at the time, holding his red ‘budget box’ atop a flight of stairs inside No.11 Downing Street.
His Treasury team were bizarrely gathered one behind the other down the staircase, while all looking up at the camera.
In March 2021, Ms De Botton mocked a now infamous press photo which showed Mr Sunak, who was chancellor at the time, holding his red ‘budget box’ atop a flight of stairs inside No.11 Downing Street (tweet pictured).
Rishi Sunak stood at the top of the staircase of No11 alongside his ministerial team in the bizarre photocall last year
The photo, which was released just moments before his speech in Parliament, was a marked change to his official photo line up from last year
Many believed the photo was designed to hide the obvious height difference between a 5ft5 Mr Sunak and the other ministers, which had been on full display in a more traditional line-up photo the year before.
Poking fun at the photocall, Ms De Botton shared a meme on Twitter which showed the baby from The Labyrinth, starring David Bowie, staring down the film’s iconic set of moving staircases.
However it was edited to look as though the baby was looking down at Mr Sunak and his Treasury team, mocking the photo’s perceived dystopian feel, which led Twitter users at the time to compare it ‘something out of a horror film’.
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