Boris signs up ‘Wizard of Oz’ election ally to overhaul No10

BORIS JOHNSON has hired a close ally of election guru Sir Lynton Crosby to shore up his Downing Street team after weeks of chaos.

David Canzini is close to the Australian strategist dubbed the ‘Wizard of Oz’ for masterminding major Tory victories, including the Prime Minister’s 2008 London mayoral campaign.

Mr Canzini will start as deputy chief of staff in No10 this week, to the delight of Tories who have called for a ‘grown-up’ to support Mr Johnson following the Partygate scandal.

One MP has called Mr Canzini ‘a hard man’ able to dispense advice in a very direct way.

Staff at Sir Lynton’s company CT Group, where Mr Canzini is a director, were told of his departure on Friday.

Mr Canzini was previously a Tory Party campaign director.

Mr Canzini’s appointment will bring the number of deputy chief of staffs to three – he will work alongside Baroness (Simone) Finn, an ally of Michael Gove, and Ben Gascoigne.

The shake-up was sparked by the resignation of policy chief Munira Mirza, chief of staff Dan Rosenfield and advisers Henry Newman and Henry Cook.