UK Conservatives hire Obama campaign strategist
UK Conservatives hire former Obama campaign chief Jim Messina to boost re-election hopes
8/2/2013LONDON — Britain’s governing Conservatives have hired Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager, to advise them ahead of the 2015 general election.
Messina was the president’s campaign manager in 2012, and his organizational flair and social media strategy helped secure Obama’s re-election.
Messina said today that he had “long admired Prime Minister (David) Cameron” and would be offering the Conservatives “strategic campaign advice.” He said he would remain based in the United States and would not manage day-to-day political operations.
The Conservatives currently govern in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, but hope to win a parliamentary majority in 2015.
Under Cameron, the party combines conservative economic policies that favor privatization and spending cuts with a liberal stance on issues such as same-sex marriage, which Britain recently legalized.