Cameron hires strategist

British Prime Minister David Cameron has hired an Australian political strategist to mastermind his party’s re-election campaign and draw a line under months of policy reversals that have reduced his Conservatives’ popularity. The party said yesterday Cameron had appointed Lynton Crosby as an adviser for national polls due in 2015, days after the Conservatives crashed to a bruising defeat in a parliamentary by-election in a bellwether middle England seat. Crosby masterminded two winning campaigns for London Mayor Boris Johnson, securing the former journalist – seen as a potential rival to Cameron – a second term in May against an anti-Conservative trend.