Heads Up – Talking Strategy with Headland’s Toby Pellew

William Cash | 11th February 2026 | In-House Public Affairs, Westminster Index
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Under managing director Toby Pellew, Headland has become one of the UK’s leading public affairs agencies. He reveals what it takes to get to the top in the strategic comms game

Toby Pellew, 43, co-leads the public affairs team at Headland with former Downing Street adviser Jack Doyle. In the last few political cycles, Headland has emerged as a top player in the strategic comms world, with a reputation for being the one firm you don’t want to see in the corridor at a public affairs beauty parade. Much of this success is down to Pellew, who is regarded as one of the best pitch specialists.

He was brought up in an academic family in Cambridge where his father, Robin Pellew, was a well-recognised conservationist, who became chief executive of the UK wing of the World Wildlife Fund. Politics was core to that job and his father travelled the world to campaign for greater support for an emerging issue: sustainability. “I remember Dad going to the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 with representatives from the UK government,” he says. “It sounded exciting and I was inspired.”

After reading Politics at Newcastle University, Pellew began his career with a short stint working for the Conservative Party, acting as secretariat to shadow minister Jonathan Djanogly, former MP for Huntingdon, in a working group for one of David Cameron’s policy areas: responsibility deals. It was here that Pellew was introduced to the world of public affairs and triggered his move into the sector close to 20 years ago. “I had zero awareness of public affairs but was electrified by these big …

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