New No 10 comms unit revealed, led by former Sadiq Khan’s media director Sarah Brown

Mace | 28th July 2026 | Moves

Led by Sarah Brown, former head of comms for Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham's new Downing Street media operation will be “agile, media-savvy, and unflinchingly clear on its narrative” according to insiders.

Sarah Brown, who has spent the past decade handling communications for Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has been brought in as Downing Street’s director of communications, according to a No. 10 source. Brown was a Labour Party press officer before being appointed Khan’s deputy mayoral director of communications in 2016. She was promoted to mayoral director of communications when Patrick Hennessy stepped down from the role in 2021. Grace Pritchard, a former special adviser to Ed Miliband who ran communications for Burnham during the Makerfield campaign, has been appointed director of news and the prime minister’s political spokesperson. During his speech following the Makerfield by-election, Burnham singled out Pritchard as being “absolutely brilliant”. Before becoming Miliband’s special adviser last October, Pritchard worked on regional communications for the Labour Party after a brief stint as senior communications manager for Yvette Cooper MP. She previously spent three years working...

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