Senior Tories aim to persuade Lynton Crosby to start working full-time for David Cameron from the autumn in a bid to quell growing unrest over the party’s election prospects.
Australian Mr Crosby, who masterminded Boris Johnson’s re-election last year, currently works just one day a week for the Prime Minister — for which his firm is rumoured to earn £228,000 a year.
He was expected to go full-time next spring, giving just over a year to unleash an election-winning strategy. However an insider said: “We are trying to persuade Lynton to go full-time a few months earlier than planned, probably in the autumn of this year.”
The move comes after Mr Cameron’s pledge of an in-out EU referendum failed to stop the rise of Ukip or to extinguish Tory in-fighting. One Conservative MP, David Ruffley, gave the Prime Minister 12 months to show his strategy is working.
Upgrading Mr Crosby’s role risks putting George Osborne’s nose out of joint. He is currently in overall charge of campaigning, in addition to his duties as Chancellor and attending daily meetings at No 10, attracting Labour jibes of “part-time Chancellor”.
Mr Crosby has impressed Cabinet ministers by bringing better discipline to the Government’s messaging. One said: “He boils everything down into a clear message that everyone knows.” Another Tory source said: “Lynton may work one day a week, but he works from dawn to late at night.”
