Jonty Olliff-Cooper

I'm indebted to Private Eye yet again for a piece about A4e's appointment of a new director of policy and strategy. The Eye (which calls A4e a company which "seems more effective at finding jobs for former ministers and their functionaries than the unemployed") reports that A4e have signed up Jonty Olliff-Cooper who previously worked in Conservative Central Office as assistant to David Cameron's aide. "A4e has a history," says the Eye, "of hiring political insiders: it recruited David Blunkett as an adviser when Labour was in power. But a former Labour minister will not be as helpful looking after its £150m contract with the government as a Conservative one."

Olliff-Cooper may be small beer compared to Blunkett, but he is certainly a Tory loyalist, tweeting about what an "awesome job" Cameron is doing, and he has the inside contacts.

The piece ends with another swipe at A4e's record. Good to know that Private Eye is keeping an eye on them.