Craig Oliver

Why organisations work with Sir Craig Oliver

• He has run communications at the top of a G7 government through a general election, a referendum campaign, and the daily crisis tempo of Number 10. Few advisers carry that operating experience into corporate rooms.
• His Brexit account, Unleashing Demons, is the basis for a serialised national newspaper extract and a Channel 4 drama. The book gives a serious, named case study of how a high-stakes campaign was actually run, win or lose.
• As Co-Global Head of Strategy and Reputation at FGS Global, he advises listed companies and boards on reputation strategy. His commentary is grounded in current corporate work, not retired political memory.
• He brings senior broadcast craft to live events. Editing the BBC Ten and Six O’Clock News and running BBC Global English output is a different discipline from political spokesmanship, and it shows in his moderation.

Biography highlights

• Director of Politics and Communications, 10 Downing Street, under Prime Minister David Cameron (2011 to 2016)
• Knighted in the 2016 Resignation Honours
• Partner and Co-Global Head of Strategy and Reputation, FGS Global
• Author of Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit (Hodder & Stoughton), the basis for Channel 4’s Brexit: The Uncivil War
• Former editor of BBC Ten O’Clock News and Six O’Clock News; former Controller of English, BBC Global News
• Trustee, Make A Wish UK

Biography

The Brexit referendum was lost by the side that controlled the machinery of government. Sir Craig Oliver was inside that machinery, running communications and politics for David Cameron from Number 10. His book Unleashing Demons documents the campaign from the rooms where it was decided, and gave Channel 4 the basis for Brexit: The Uncivil War.

He spent six years as Director of Politics and Communications at Downing Street, from 2011 to 2016, across a coalition government, a majority general election win, and the referendum that ended the Cameron premiership. He was knighted in the 2016 Resignation Honours.

Before politics, he ran some of the most-watched news programmes in British broadcasting. He edited the BBC Ten O’Clock News and Six O’Clock News, then took on multiplatform commissioning across BBC Global News English output. The training is editorial, not press office. It shows in how he handles a stage and a panel.

He now advises listed companies and chief executives as Partner and Co-Global Head of Strategy and Reputation at FGS Global. The work is current. The case studies he draws on are not all twelve years old, and senior buyers feel that quickly when he is in the room.

Key speaking topics

• Reputation strategy under political and media pressure
• Crisis communications and decision-making at the top
• The communications interface between the boards and the government
• Political risk and public affairs for corporate leaders
• Campaign strategy and message discipline
• Broadcast media and the modern news cycle

Ideal for

• Boards, CEOs and chairs preparing for high-stakes public communication
• CCOs, heads of corporate affairs and government affairs teams
• Conferences and private gatherings are looking for an experienced senior moderator or event host
• Leadership teams briefing on political risk, election cycles, or referendum dynamics

Audience outcomes

• A clearer reading of how political and media pressure actually moves around a senior leader, drawn from inside Number 10
• Sharper instincts on what to say, what to hold, and what to release in a crisis
• A senior view of the reputation function and how chief executives should use it
• Practical sense of how broadcast and digital media interact in a live story
• A working frame for the public-affairs interface, from someone who has sat on both sides