Rishi Saha leaving government

Rishi Saha: pic by gooliver (Flickr CC)

Rishi Saha, the former digital chief at the Conservative Party who slipped very quietly into the role of Head of Digital Comms at Number10, is on the move again. It’s been announced that he’s joining PR agency Hill & Knowlton, part of WPP, becoming its new ‘Regional Director for Australia, the Middle East, Africa and South & Central Asia’.
Based in Dubai, he will also ‘be responsible for leading H&K’s digital strategy across Europe and AMEASCA, developing H&K’s global content creation capability and business development with a focus on the emerging markets.’

Cabinet Office web 'takeover'

Leaving aside the inevitable tabloid hyperbole, the Mirror is reporting this morning that:

Scores of civil servants could be axed under plans to hand David Cameron’s “vanity staff” control of all Government websites. The PM wants to create a single unit to take charge of web operations handled by 117 staff in separate departments. Whitehall’s dozens of official websites could be merged into one in a cost-cutting measure which would also allow Mr Cameron’s aides to “brand” the coalition’s presence on the internet. Former Tory party staffer Rishi Saha, who oversees No10’s internet site, is expected to be in charge.

That would certainly be in keeping with the signals I’ve been seeing over the past few weeks.