| Office: | Downing Street Director of Communications | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Term Start: | 5 July 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Primeminister: | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor: | Nerissa Chesterfield
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| Party: | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Name: | Matthew Leo Doyle |
Matthew Leo Doyle (born June 1975)[1] is a British political adviser and political aide who has served as Downing Street Director of Communications since July 2024.
Matthew Leo Doyle was born in June 1975.
Doyle was Head of Press and Broadcasting for the Labour Party between November 1998 and May 2005.[2] He was then special adviser to Work and Pensions Secretary, David Blunkett, from May to November 2005, before working as a special adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair from November 2005 to June 2007. He was the Downing Street Deputy Director of Communications under Blair.[3] He departed Downing Street after Tony Blair left office as Prime Minister, and went on to work as the Political Director of Blair's office from June 2007 to February 2012.
Doyle was also the TV Debates Media Director for Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the 2010 general election.
In 2012, he established his own political consultancy, MLD Advisory Ltd. He also spent two years as the Director of Communications for the International Rescue Committee under former Foreign Secretary David Miliband.[4]
Doyle led the press operation for Liz Kendall's campaign in the 2015 Labour leadership election.[5]
Controversially Doyle was appointed for 3 months as a media adviser to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland at the Commonwealth Secretariat in April 2016. Leaks to the media showed that he had been paid £48,000 for the 3 months work. [6]
Shortly after the Labour's defeat in the 2021 Hartlepool by-election,[7] Doyle was appointed the Labour Party Director of Communications on an interim basis under Leader Keir Starmer, with the role later becoming permanent.[8] [9] [10] After Labour's victory in the 2024 general election,[11] Doyle was appointed Downing Street Director of Communications.[12] [13]
Doyle is Roman Catholic.[14]