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Guto Harri

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Guto Harri
CBE
Downing Street Director of Communications
In office
5 February 2022 – 6 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byJack Doyle
Succeeded bySimon McGee (Director of Government Communications)
Succeeded byAdam Jones (Political Director of Communications)
Personal details
Born (1966-07-08) 8 July 1966 (age 58)
Cardiff, Wales, UK
Children3
EducationQueen's College, Oxford (BA)
Cardiff University (PGDip)

Guto Harri CBE (Welsh: [ˈɡɪtɔ ˈhariː]; born 8 July 1966) is a Welsh broadcaster, writer and strategic communications consultant. He most recently served as Downing Street Director of Communications, having been appointed by Boris Johnson in February 2022.

Harri spent 18 years as a journalist at the BBC. From 2008 to 2012 he was director of external affairs for Mayor of London Boris Johnson.[1] He worked at News International from 2012 to 2015, Liberty Global from 2016 to 2017, Hanover Communications from 2018 to 2020,[2] and Hawthorn Advisors from 2020 to 2022.

In May 2021, Harri joined GB News as a presenter; he was suspended and resigned in July 2021 after he took the knee on air. In February 2022, Harri was appointed Downing Street Director of Communications by Prime Minister Johnson, following the resignation of Jack Doyle, and left the post in September 2022.

Early life and education

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Guto Harri was born in Cardiff to writer and psychiatrist Harri Pritchard-Jones and Lenna (née Harries).[3][4] A native Welsh speaker, he studied at Tonyrefail School and Ysgol Bryntaf,[5] before attending Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari.[3] After school Harri attended The Queen's College, Oxford, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics.[6] He then undertook a postgraduate course in broadcast journalism at Cardiff University.[3]

Career

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Television

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He started his career in Welsh-language radio before moving into network radio and television. He remained a regular contributor on the S4C news programme Newyddion (“News”) as well as on a number of historical documentaries for S4C. He later presented a number of BBC Wales' main election programmes.[5]

Harri was a regular presenter on BBC television and radio programmes such as The World at One,[7] Westminster Live, Straight Talk, Despatch Box and The World This Weekend.[5] He covered the collapse of communism in Romania, Czechoslovakia and East Germany before reporting on the Gulf War from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and northern Iraq.[5] He became the BBC's chief political correspondent in November 2002 and also presented the weekly interview programme, One To One.[3] He moved briefly to Rome from July 2004 to January 2005 and then became North America business correspondent based in New York City until June 2007.[citation needed]

Harri was appointed as a trustee of S4C in 2014,[8] and he was a member of the S4C Authority from 2014 to 2018.[9]

Since June 2018, he has presented the S4C current affairs television programme, Y Byd yn ei Le.[10] S4C confirmed that he would not continue hosting the programme following his appointment as Downing Street Director of Communications.[11]

In May 2021, it was announced that Harri would be joining GB News as co-host of a weekly news and discussion programme.[12] On 13 July 2021, Harri took the knee on GB News to show support for the England football team's kneeling for anti-racism; following backlash from viewers, GB News suspended him indefinitely for failing to maintain the editorial standards expected by the network.[13][14] Shortly afterwards, he resigned from GB News,[15] having written in The Sunday Times that the channel was "becoming an absurd parody" that was replicating cancel culture on the far right.[16][17]

Public relations

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After leaving the BBC at the end of 2007, he was approached to work for Conservative Party leader David Cameron, but joined London public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard as a senior policy advisor, reportedly spending four days as an adviser to Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.[4]

In May 2008, he was appointed communications director for Mayor of London Boris Johnson's administration at London City Hall.[1] Harri joined News UK in May 2012 as a director of communications and corporate affairs, but left in December 2015, remarking that he was leaving with the "job done" after the fallout over phone hacking at the company.[18]

He then joined Virgin Media owner Liberty Global in February 2016 as their managing director of external communications.[19][20] He left the role in December 2017.

In May 2018, Harri took a part-time role with London PR firm Hanover Communications as a vice president,[2] for GQ magazine as a contributing political editor,[21] and also for Hydro Industries, a water treatment company based in Llanelli where he is a director.[22][23]

Brexit/Boris Johnson

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Harri is a critic of Brexit.[24][25] After Johnson likened Prime Minister Theresa May's Chequers Brexit agreement to a "suicide vest" around the British constitution in September 2018, Harri criticised Johnson for "[joking] about suicide vests" and being "sexually incontinent", saying he was "digging his political grave" with his comments.[26] He also said Johnson had become "more tribal, and tribal within the tribe, so that he would now be—if he were to become leader—a hugely divisive figure".[26]

Harri was a board director of Hawthorn Advisors, a communications consultancy based in London and co-founded by Conservative Party co-chair Ben Elliot in 2013.[27][28] Hawthorn advised and lobbied the government on behalf of Huawei, a firm with close ties to the Chinese government that has been accused of spying on 5G networks in the UK and other Western nations.[29][30] Harri personally met with top executives from Huawei, including the company's vice-president, in 2020.

Harri was critical of Boris Johnson over parties held in Downing Street and Westminster during COVID-19 lockdowns,[26] although he has argued that people were losing their "sense of perspective" over the controversy.[25] After a wave of resignations from Boris Johnson's team at 10 Downing Street in February 2022 in light of the scandal, he became Downing Street Director of Communications,[24] replacing Jack Doyle.

Harri left his Director of Communications post on 6 September 2022, the same day that Johnson resigned as Prime Minister.[31][32]

Family and personal life

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Harri grew up in Rhondda Cynon Taf. He married his wife, Shireen, in 2000 and has three children.[33] In 2005, Harri published an advertisement in the Western Mail seeking a Welsh-speaking nanny for their two children while he worked for the BBC in New York City, in which he argued for the importance of the language in bringing up his children.[34] Outside work he says he enjoys rowing, sailing, fishing and cooking.[4]

Harri is a non-executive board member of the Hay Festival.[35] He was previously a trustee for UK-based cultural non-governmental organisation Visiting Arts.[36] Harri is trained and serves as a volunteer crew member on the River Thames for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.[37] He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of South Wales.[3]

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours for political and public service.[38][39]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Ex-BBC man is Johnson spokesman". BBC News. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2008.
  2. ^ a b "Guto Harri". Hanover Communications. Retrieved 17 September 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ a b c d e "Honorary Doctorate for political broadcaster, Guto Harri". www.southwales.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Prior, Neil (21 May 2012). "From Boris to Murdoch for PR man". BBC News. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d "Guto Harri". BBC News. 20 October 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  6. ^ Mulholland, Hélène (4 May 2012). "Top Boris Johnson aide may quit City Hall". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  7. ^ Sparrow, Andrew (9 May 2008). "New recruit: Boris Johnson appoints Guto Hari". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Sajid Javid appoints 3 new Trustees to S4C". gov.uk. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and S4C. 7 July 2014.
  9. ^ "S4C Chair thanks Guto Harri for his contribution". S4C. 2018. Guto Harri was a member of the Authority from 9 July 2014 and his term would have run until 8 July 2020. His last meeting will be 27 Sept 2018.
  10. ^ "Guto Harri yn rhoi'r byd yn ei le mewn cyfres newydd". Lleol.Cymru (in Welsh). 12 June 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  11. ^ Morris, Jacob (7 February 2022). "Boris Johnson yn cymryd y ben-glin ac yn canu 'I Will Survive' wrth benodi ei Gyfarwyddwr Cyfathrebu newydd" [Boris Johnson takes a knee and sings 'I Will Survive' when appointing his new Director of Communications]. Golwg360 (in Welsh). Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  12. ^ "Guto Harri joins new TV channel GB News". Nation.Cymru. 29 May 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  13. ^ Waterson, Jim (16 July 2021). "GB News pulls Guto Harri off air after 'taking the knee' row". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  14. ^ "GB News says presenter Guto Harri breached standards by taking the knee". BBC News. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  15. ^ Brown, Mark (18 July 2021). "Guto Harri quits GB News as Nigel Farage is given prime-time show". The Observer. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  16. ^ Harri, Guto (18 July 2021). "They claim to believe in free speech, but not when I took the knee". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 17 August 2021. I joined, part-time but with an ongoing commitment, because I liked and trusted those in charge and supported the broad vision. But the channel is rapidly becoming an absurd parody of what it proclaimed to be. Rather than defending free speech and confronting cancel culture, it has set out to replicate it on the far right.
  17. ^ "Harri 'quits GB News following row over taking the knee". RTE News. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  18. ^ Sweney, Mark (10 November 2015). "News UK PR chief Guto Harri to leave after three years". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  19. ^ Mulholl, Hélène (20 May 2012). "Boris Johnson's former aide takes PR job with News International". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  20. ^ Sweney, Mark (21 December 2015). "News UK PR chief Guto Harri to join Virgin Media owner Liberty Global". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  21. ^ Harri, Guto (13 May 2019). "The Vatican has proved that, if you want a decision made quickly, you need to lock them in". British GQ. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  22. ^ "HYDRO INDUSTRIES LIMITED - Filing History (free information from Companies House)". Companies House. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  23. ^ "Meet the team - Guto Harri". Hydro Industries. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  24. ^ a b "Boris Johnson names two new aides after No 10 party turmoil". BBC News. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  25. ^ a b Mason, Rowena (6 February 2022). "Keep your friends close: why Boris Johnson hired Guto Harri". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  26. ^ a b c Schofield, Kevin (6 February 2022). "Boris Johnson's New Spin Doctor Once Accused Him Of 'Digging His Political Grave'". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  27. ^ "Our People". Hawthorn Advisors. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  28. ^ Owen, Jonathan (10 August 2021). "Hawthorn Advisors distances itself from co-founder amid lobbying row". PR Week. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  29. ^ "Boris Johnson sang 'I Will Survive' to new communications chief Guto Harri". BBC News. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  30. ^ Merrick, Rob (7 February 2022). "Labour demands answers over Boris Johnson's new spin chief's lobbying for Huawei". The Independent. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  31. ^ "Boris Johnson hints at comeback ambition as he departs Downing Street". the Guardian. 6 September 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  32. ^ Guto Harri says Boris Johnson was 'an exceptional Prime Minister' as he leaves Number 10 post, walesonline.co.uk. Accessed 18 October 2022.
  33. ^ "BBC Press Office biography".
  34. ^ "Guto seeks Welsh-speaking nanny". WalesOnline. 1 June 2005. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  35. ^ "About Hay Festival".
  36. ^ "Visiting Arts Board". Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  37. ^ "Guto Harri". Atlantic Speaker Bureau. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  38. ^ "Resignation Honours 2023" (PDF). GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  39. ^ "No. 64120". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 July 2023. p. 14503.
[edit]
Media offices
Preceded by Chief Political Correspondent: BBC News
2002–2004 		Succeeded by
Government offices
Preceded by Downing Street Director of Communications
2022–present 		Incumbent
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