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Sir Keir Starmer’s media operation is undergoing another major shake-up as Dave Pares, the prime minister’s official spokesperson, leaves Downing Street to move to a new role at the Treasury.
Pares, a 35-year-old economist, will become director of communications at the Treasury, his old department, with a remit to sell chancellor Rachel Reeves’ crucial Autumn Budget, which is expected to involve big tax rises.
The shake-up means Starmer’s troubled Number 10 operation has lost its two most senior media figures in a matter of weeks, as the prime minister attempts to regain the political initiative.
Earlier this month James Lyons, Starmer’s chief political spin-doctor, left his job after less than a year in the post, to be replaced by the veteran Number 10 aide and Portland Communications founder Tim Allan.
Pares’ departure has been lamented within Downing Street, with staff saying he had been “poached” by the Treasury to take up the newly created director of communications role.
That job was established as a result of a short review of the Treasury’s communications operation, ordered by Reeves, who wanted to improve her media relations as she prepares for her Budget on November 26.
The review, conducted by Helen Bower-Easton, director of communications at the Financial Conduct Authority, proposed beefing up the Treasury’s small press operation with a view to making it more “strategic”.
Pares, who previously worked with Conservative chancellors George Osborne and Philip Hammond, took up his Number 10 civil service role in 2024 under the then-Tory premier Rishi Sunak. He became Starmer’s official spokesperson after last year’s general election.
His return to the Treasury is intended to presage what Bower-Easton hopes will be a more “strategic and active communications function” at the finance ministry, engaging with “the public, business and economic commentators”, according to one government official.
Pares has been tasked with finding “new ways” to disseminate the Treasury’s message, according to insiders at the department, including explaining why Reeves needs to raise taxes less than a year after she said such increases would not be necessary for the rest of the parliament.
The chancellor, facing downgrades to official growth forecasts, is said by people briefed on her Budget preparations to be braced for a fiscal hole of up to £30bn. Most of it would have to be filled by tax increases.
Pares’ move was also presented by Downing Street insiders as a further strengthening of ties between Starmer’s office and the Treasury ahead of the Budget.
Darren Jones, former Treasury chief secretary, is now Starmer’s “chief secretary” and enforcer in Number 10. Dan York-Smith, a former Treasury official, is the prime minister’s principal private secretary.
Downing Street confirmed Pares’ move but declined to comment further, and he is expected to take up his Treasury role in October.
Tom Wells, Pares’ deputy in Number 10, will take on the duties of the prime minister’s official spokesperson while a permanent successor is found.
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