UK Politics

Labour's Ed Miliband unveils chief spokesmen

  • 14 December 2010
Tom Baldwin
Image caption Tom Baldwin has worked for many years as a Westminster journalist

Labour leader Ed Miliband has appointed the Times journalist Tom Baldwin as his head of communications.

The party has also announced that the Daily Mirror's political editor, Bob Roberts, will serve as Mr Miliband's director of news.

Both men will begin their new jobs early next year.

Mr Baldwin, whose role is said to be strategic rather than dealing with daily press queries, has also worked as Washington correspondent for the Times.

There has been widespread speculation about Mr Miliband's choices to run his media operation since he won the Labour leadership in September, narrowly beating his older brother David.

Their appointment of Mr Baldwin and Mr Roberts follows the departure of senior media adviser Katie Myler, who is moving to a private sector job with PR firm Burson-Marsteller.

In 2003 Mr Baldwin was one of the first journalists to name David Kelly as BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan's source of information on the dossier into Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

He later testified before the Hutton inquiry into Dr Kelly's death.

Mr Baldwin is known to be a close friend of Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former head of communications.