Johnson’s videographer recruited to rival’s cause

LIZ TRUSS has recruited Boris Johnson’s official videographer to overhaul her department’s digital output, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

Robert Midgley will become the Foreign Secretary’s digital media adviser, and will accompany her on trips abroad, in a move that will add to mounting speculation about her leadership ambitions.

A Foreign Office (FO) source said that Mr Midgley, a civil servant who was the first in-house videographer at No 10, would advise Ms Truss and officials on digital media and “help raise the level and quality of the department’s output”.

Ms Truss wants to boost the use of “digital diplomacy”, via videos posted on Twitter and Instagram, according to the source, who suggested Mr Midgley’s role would be the digital equivalent to that of her official press secretary.

The appointment was made after Ms Truss recruited Reuben Solomon, a former head of digital at the Conservative Party, as a special adviser, taking her team of political staff to seven.

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, seen as another frontrunner to succeed Mr Johnson, hired Cass Horowitz, co-founder of a creative agency, as a digital guru in his political team in February 2020.

Mr Midgley, who will remain a civil servant, was also behind the Prime Minister’s national television addresses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The source said: “These things are watched by friends, allies and, indeed, adversaries around the world, so it’s an important way to get our message out in the modern, digital world.”

Last week, a video posted the FO on the Northern Ireland Protocol prompted claims that it amounted to “propaganda”. The video warned that the Protocol, which is being renegotiated by Ms Truss, was undermining the Northern Ireland peace process and “needs to be fixed”.

Brexiteers welcomed the FO’s “refreshing change of tone”.