The road from journalism to spinning for politicos is a well-trodden one – many hacks have gone from poacher to gamekeeper with some success, not least Alastair Campbell of this parish. To go directly from gamekeeper to poacher, however, is much more unusual.
Which is why some eyebrows have been raised at the Mail on Sunday, which has just appointed Gabriel Millard-Clothier, the Conservative Party’s deputy head of media, as its new political reporter.
It’s a good gig for someone not thought to have any journalism experience beyond a first-person piece about the poor value of his politics degree for the Times in 2020. As recently as 2019, Millard-Clothier was still working in a Belugo restaurant with his duties, according to his LinkedIn profile, being as an “ice cream man, kitchen porter and waiter”.
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But it might actually please some at CCHQ that the Mail, which is becoming increasingly Reform-adjacent in its political coverage, still puts some value in having a hack with close contacts in the Tory Party.
Still, it’s best that the Mail on Sunday keeps Millard-Clothier away from the royal coverage which it prizes so much. Back in 2011, as thousands gathered in central London to cheer Prince William and Kate Middleton tying the knot, he told the BBC he was not happy to be “dragged” to the celebratory street party by his father.
“I wanted to stay at home and watch the wedding because it is a world-wide event,” he told the broadcaster. “But I don’t believe in monarchy.” Millard-Clothier was, to be fair, 11 years old at the time.
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