Powell-Chandler is head of media strategy and planning in Number Ten, but sadly the nickname “Mystic Meg” has yet to catch on for the Downing Street grid queen. A former departmental Spad to Greg Clark and Damian Hinds, she also worked at CCHQ for three years, making her one of the longest- serving Spads. Dominic Cummings credited her as one of the Spads who kept him in check, and in his absence Boris Johnson has undergone the same treatment. A leading light among the Conservatives’ liberal wing, Powell-Chandler has developed a reputation for speaking truth to power within a Number Ten apparatus which can intimidate. That
may be something to do with the fact she has gained valuable experience outside politics. After graduating from Oxford in 2009, she worked at CCHQ before a move to Downing Street and multiple government departments. Yet she gave it all up to work for Crisis and then Burson- Marsteller – with a candidacy at the 2017 general election in between. It is ultimately her no-nonsense attitude and kindness which make her one of the best-regarded Spads in government. She recently hit the headlines during the Carrie Symonds briefing war as one of Johnson’s “three musketeers”, alongside Henry Cook and Henry Newman.
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