Starmer and The Sun

An Appointment That Shows Everything That Is Wrong with Power and the Press in Britain

The Prime Minister has signalled the direction of his Government by appointing a former Editor of The Sun – who has a criminal conviction under the Sexual Offences Act – as a communications advisor, writes Emma Jones

As the country basked in the afterglow of the Lionesses’ triumph in the recent Euro women’s final – a team that has come to embody a new kind of sporting heroism grounded in merit, solidarity, and freedom from the male gaze – the Prime Minister cut through the public mood with an announcement.

In the same breath as celebrating women who have redefined what power, skill, and leadership can look like, Keir Starmer appointed David ‘the dinosaur’ Dinsmore – whose career was built on The Sun’s ‘Page 3’ sexism, phone-hacking denialism, and media intrusion – to a civil service role as his chief communications advisor.

It represents less a fresh start and more a return to the worst clichés of Fleet Street.