Anji Hunter | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Angela Margaret Jane Hunter 1955 (age 68–69) |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Alma mater | University of Brighton |
| Occupation | Public relations advisor |
| Employer(s) | Tony Blair BP Edelman |
| Spouses |
|
Angela Margaret Jane "Anji" Hunter (born 29 July 1955) is a Scottish public relations advisor. She is noted for her close partnership with former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Hunter was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then under control of the British Empire. Her father, Major Arthur John Hunter,, was a rubber plantation manager, awarded MBE for his service with the Special Operations Executive in Burma during the Second World War.
Hunter was educated at St Leonards School in St Andrews, Scotland, [1] and St. Clare's, Oxford sixth form college. She first met Tony Blair while still in Scotland, at the age of 15. [2]
She gained a first in History and English in 1988 from the University of Brighton.
After graduating, Hunter began working for Tony Blair, now an MP, as his political assistant. [1] She became Director of Government Relations for Blair's government in 1997, [1] and was described as "the most influential non-elected person in Downing Street".
In 2001 she left Downing Street to become Director of Communications at the oil and gas company BP in 2002. [3] In 2009 she was appointed Director of External Affairs for Anglo American plc. [4] She is a board member of the Snowdon Trust, founded by the Earl of Snowdon, which provides grants and scholarships for students with disabilities. [5] She is also serves on the advisory board of the Birmingham Business School. [6]
In 2013 Hunter joined the international public relations and marketing consultancy Edelman to advise clients on corporate reputation, crisis management and public affairs, as well as helping promote senior women in business. [7] [8]
Hunter married the landscape gardener Nick Cornwall in 1980. [1] The couple had two children. In November 2001 it was announced that she was leaving Downing Street to join BP as its director of communications. [9] In July of 2002, it was reported that Hunter was in a relationship with the political editor of Sky News Adam Boulton. Cornwall and Hunter subsequently divorced. [10] [11] Hunter married Boulton in 2006. [12]
James Watt was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.
Matthew Boulton was an English businessman, inventor, mechanical engineer, and silversmith. He was a business partner of the Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
In British politics, Blairism is the political ideology of Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, and those that support him, known as Blairites. It entered the New Penguin English Dictionary in 2000. Elements of the ideology include investment in public services, expansionary efforts in education to encourage social mobility, and increased actions in terms of mass surveillance alongside a ramping up of law enforcement powers, both of these latter changes advocated in the context of fighting organized crime and terrorism. Blairites have additionally been known for their contrast with the traditional support for socialism by those believing in left-wing politics, with Blair himself and others speaking out against the nationalisation of major industries and against also heavy regulations of business operations. On foreign policy, Blairism is supportive of close relations with the United States and liberal interventionism, including advocacy for both the Iraq war and the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).
Geoffrey Robinson is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry North West for 43 years, from 1976 to 2019. He was Paymaster General from May 1997 to December 1998, resigning after The bankruptcy of his company Trans Tec. It was revealed that he had lent his government colleague Peter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house. From 1996 to 2008 he was the owner of the New Statesman, a centre-left weekly political magazine.
Handsworth is an inner-city area of Birmingham in the county of the West Midlands, England. Historically in Staffordshire, Handsworth lies just outside Birmingham City Centre and near the town of Smethwick. In 2021 the ward had a population of 11,820.
Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the English manufacturer Matthew Boulton and the Scottish engineer James Watt, the firm had a major role in the Industrial Revolution and grew to be a major producer of steam engines in the 19th century.
John McTernan is a British political strategist and commentator. He has been a political adviser to the Labour Party.
Thomas Adam Babington Boulton is a British journalist and broadcaster who is a regular presenter on Times Radio. He was formerly editor-at-large of Sky News, and presenter of All Out Politics and Week in Review. He is also the former political editor of Sky News. He is based at Sky News' Westminster studios in Central London. He was previously the political editor of TV-am, an ITV early-morning broadcasting franchise holder. He held the post of Sky's political editor since being asked to establish its politics team for the launch of the channel in 1989. He is the former presenter of Sky News' Sunday Live with Adam Boulton, and presented a regular weekday news and political programme on Sky News, entitled Boulton and Co from 2011 to 2014.
Jonathan Nicholas Powell is a British diplomat and civil servant. In November 2024, he was announced as the UK National Security adviser, serving in Downing Street under British prime minister Keir Starmer. He previously served as the second Downing Street Chief of Staff, under British prime minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. He was the only senior adviser to last the whole period of Blair's leadership. During this period Powell was also the chief British negotiator on Northern Ireland.
"Tony's Cronies" was a term in British politics and media given to people who were viewed as being given positions of power because of their personal friendships with Prime Minister Tony Blair, during his premiership between 1997 and 2007. These included those granted life peerages and public positions based on their friendship with Blair rather than their individual merits. The phrase was created by the Conservative Party following the 1997 general election and was continually used in the media throughout Blair's premiership.
Sally Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Huyton, is a British Labour Party politician, and Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. She is the former Chair of Ofsted.
Ruth Turner was formerly Director of Government Relations within Tony Blair's Downing Street office.
Tony Blair's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 2 May 1997 when he accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding John Major of the Conservative Party, and ended on 27 June 2007 upon his resignation. As prime minister, Blair also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Leader of the Labour Party. He and Gordon Brown both extensively used the New Labour branding while in office, which was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.
Anthony Bryan Hayward is a British businessman and former CEO of the oil and energy company BP. He replaced the Baron Browne of Madingley on 1 May 2007. His tenure ended on 1 October 2010 when he was replaced by Bob Dudley following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He was chairman of Glencore Xstrata from 2014 to 2021.
Benjamin Charles Wegg-Prosser is a British consultant and political adviser. He is CEO and co-founder of Global Counsel, a London-based strategic consultancy and lobbying organisation, which has Peter Mandelson as its President. Wegg-Prosser was Tony Blair's Director of Strategic Communications at 10 Downing Street.
Susan Jane Nye, Baroness Nye is the former Director of Government Relations and former diary secretary to ex-British prime minister Gordon Brown. In May 2010 it was announced that Nye would be named a life peer in the Dissolution Honours List. On 19 July 2010 she became a Labour Party Peer, as Baroness Nye, of Lambeth in the London Borough of Lambeth.
The Cornish Constitutional Convention was formed in November 2000 with the objective of establishing a devolved Cornish Assembly. The convention is a cross-party, cross-sector association with support both in Cornwall and elsewhere. It is not campaigning for any form of separatism or independence.
In British politics, Brownism is the social democratic political ideology of the former Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party Gordon Brown and those that follow him. Proponents of Brownism are referred to as Brownites.
Kate Garvey is an English public relations executive and a former aide to British prime minister Tony Blair. She is a co-founder of Project Everyone, a communications and campaigning agency promoting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
David Roland Hill was a British political adviser who served as Alastair Campbell's replacement as Director of Communications for Tony Blair, from 2003 to 2007.