With only a few short stints out of Conservative politics within the last decade and a half – at Google, Policy Exchange and a political consultancy – Amy Fisher is the yang to Sheridan Westlake’s yin as the longest-serving female Spad. Again like Westlake, Fisher is a veteran of the “bad old days” when the Conservatives were in the wilderness, working in the press office and other roles for Conservative Party headquarters until 2010. When the Conservatives won power alongside the Lib Dems in 2010, Fisher was brought to the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs by Caroline Spelman, then to Justice by Chris Grayling before returning to CCHQ as director of communications, a steady hand to navigate the maelstrom of the Mark Clarke scandal which engulfed the Conservative Party in 2015. When Theresa May became prime minister, Fisher was a natural choice for home secretary Amber Rudd as her Spad on national security and a host of other thorny issues, though both women lost their jobs as a result of the Windrush affair. Now back in government as chief of staff to Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, Fisher is an inspirational figure for young Spads, particularly young women, and is noted for many fun traits including her unique – and very loud – laugh.
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