John McTernan

This article is about the British political strategist. For the Australian actor, see John McTernan (actor). For the American filmmaker, see John McTiernan.

John McTernan
McTernan at Policy Exchange, November 2014
Political Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office
2005–2007
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byPat McFadden
Succeeded byJoe Irvin
Personal details
Born
John McTernan

1959 (age 64–65)
London, England
EducationFirrhill High School
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh

John McTernan (born 1959) is a British political strategist and commentator. He has been a political adviser to the Labour Party.

McTernan was Prime Minister Tony Blair's Director of Political Operations from 2005 to 2007. He then worked on the November 2007 Australian Labor Party federal election campaign.[1] From 2007 to 2010 he was special adviser to two Cabinet Ministers in Gordon Brown's Labour Government: first to Des Browne, Secretary of State for Scotland and Secretary of State for Defence,[2] and then to Jim Murphy MP, the Secretary of State for Scotland from 2008 until May 2010. From June 2010 to October 2011, he was a columnist at The Scotsman, and then director of communications for the Australian Labor prime minister, Julia Gillard, from September 2011 to June 2013.[3] He was chief of staff to the 2014–2015 leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Jim Murphy, who resigned after the Labour Party lost all but one seat in Scotland, including Murphy's, in the 2015 general election.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Guar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Swanson, Ian (8 December 2014). "John McTernan tipped for Alistair Darling seat bid". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  3. ^ Totaro, Paola (6 May 2012). "Julia's master of spin". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 December 2013.