Former ITV chief Charles Allen, who recommended hiring Tim Livesey for the job of Ed’s Chief of Staff, is still trying to streamline the Labour operation in readiness for the arrival of six new Executive Directors. The jobs are currently being advertised, but word is they are filling up fast. Current press spinner Bob Roberts is likely to be going to Labour HQ, most probably in the Comms Director role. All agree that this is a promotion, though Guido wonders why you would want your main spinner based in a different office from your leader? Greg Beales is said to be mulling over whether to take the Policy and Rebuttal role that Guido mentioned yesterday, though apparently he is wary of leaving his master’s side. Though Labour HQ will be moving closer to parliament, a big shift away from the Leader of the Opposition’s suite is still happening.

While some people talk of a “refocus” for him, other speculate that Tom Baldwin is the loser of this reorganisation. One source even suggested Tom had lost a up to a third of his responsibilities, leaving him only with weekly key messages and strategic lines to take.

Lower down the ranks, the extraordinarily high turnover of demoralised political advisers leaving for jobs outside politics is rather telling…

UPDATE: Well we know what Tom’s first line was this morning:

V strong and assured performance by @Ed_Miliband against Humphreys @BBCr4today—
Peter Hain (@PeterHain) January 10, 2012

Very strong, assured performance from @Ed_Miliband on @BBCr4today this a.m—
Chuka Umunna (@ChukaUmunna) January 10, 2012

As one insider dryly observed: “Burnham gives well paid job without interview to mate who he owes £20,000″. Does that smell odd to anyone else? So Andy…

• Where was the job advertised?
• How many people were interviewed for it?
• Why was the job given to Mr Lee?
• What assurances were sought regarding Mr Lee’s private interests in the NHS?
• Why has Mr Lee not declared that he owes you £21,000 in the Register of Members’ Staff Interests?
• When are you going to pay your adviser back the £21,000 you owe him?

Answers on a inappropriate business card…

Cameron hit the roof and his staff got in Scotland Yard to trace the leak. McGrory’s study looks out over the Rose Garden and his phone made three calls to the Mirror just before they put a call in to Downing Street for a comment. On the day that Clegg announces that he is going to spend half a million on seven new LibDem SpAds across Whitehall, he should probably start thinking about an eighth…

Policy wonk Sian Jones has gone with Hammond, and there was talk of Paul Stephenson, Hammond’s media SpAd going across too, but he has gone back to his old opposition boss – Andrew Lansley. Justine Greening at Transport is hiring…

UPDATE: Bigham denies the rift and expects to be appointed soon. Sensible…

So far we know that Ann McKechin, John Healey, John Denham and Shaun Woodward are out. Ivan Lewis thoroughly deserves his new job sitting in Easyjet departure lounges begging for meetings with international players having been demoted to Shadow DFID brief. Angela Eagle replaces Benn as Shadow Leader of the House. Burnham has been given his old health brief back. Chuka looks favourite to replace Denham in Business and Rachel Reeves to replace Eagle. Thirsty Stephen Twigg has also been promoted to Shadow Education and Michael Dugher is going somewhere.  There is talk of up to six 2010 intakers getting a job.

However it’s not just the uninspiring MPs that are playing musical chairs this morning, the Special Advisers are also sweating it out, waiting to see if they will weaned off of the short-money teet. John Healey’s spinner Ian Parker isn’t very happy, he took to Twitter in the wee hours to lash out at his colleagues:

Solidarity!

What is it with big beasts of the Tory right and controversal trips with their advisers? The issue of Adam Werritty has been circling Liam Fox for months, after it emerged the unvetted and unemployed best-man of the Defence Secretary was swanning around Westminster with House of Commons business cards that said he was Fox’s “personal adviser”. Fox previously denied he was involved in any MOD activity, yet now it emerges his former flatmate came on an official MOD trip to Sri Lanka.

In that classic trick, Fox has triggered an inquiry himself, finally seeing how fishy this all looks. You would have thought after Hague got the taxpayer to pick up the bill for his trip to Afghanistan with Christopher Myers that the Tories would be a little more careful about this sort of thing. Where Hague spent an extra weekend in Bahrain with his adviser, Fox is only thought to have attended “private events” in Sri Lanka with Werritty. All werry odd…

Suggestd nicknamees for @xtophercook have included Stalker or Walter Mitty? Obv he thinks it shd b Bob Woodward,but he didnt blow up sources—
Tory education news (@toryeducation) September 21, 2011

I have just spoken to the head of the Tory party press office. I am told that the defamation is going to stop.—
Chris Cook (@xtophercook) September 22, 2011

Chris Cook, himself a former CCHQ political adviser on education to David Willets and now the FT’s education correspondent, alleges that the SpAds around Gove are using their private email accounts to conduct government business off the record and away from prying FoIs. They say they are required to do this by the Code of Conduct for SpAds which requires them to

not use official resources for party political activity

Cook argues that private emails should be subject to FoIs and has got a barrister to support his position (with substantial caveats rendering it unlikely). This unsurprisingly hasn’t been jumped on by Labour because it is unrealistic and Guido would be FoIing, from 2 years back, EdBalls@Labour.org.uk in the blinky of an eye.

Cook has complained to CCHQ, the Cabinet Office, the DfE and Downing Street that the counter-attack is disproportionate and he has been defamed. The FT is apparently going to complain in writing on his behalf that the big boys have been horrid to him. Cook further claims that Gove’s SpAds should be fired for making ad hominem attacks on him in contravention of their Code of Conduct which explicitly prohibits

the preparation or dissemination of inappropriate material or personal attacks… Any special adviser ever found to be disseminating inappropriate material will automatically be dismissed by their appointing Minister.

As far as Guido can tell there is no evidence that Gove’s SpAds have made any personal attacks on him. The Twitter account is run by CCHQ not the DfE…

Last week

He’s also going after Denham’s office:

You never know what might fall out of the tree. A protege of Ed Balls and his Muttley like SpAd Alex Belardinelli, who knows what else Gillespie was up to…

“…Tim is an absolute bolt out of the blue. He’s an uber-loyalist – I always thought he’d be last man standing.”

What is less surprising is where he is heading – Google. 

Back in July the Sunday Times’s FoIs revealed that senior Downing Street officials have had over twenty meetings with Google since the election. Accusations of preferential treatment were thrown around when Hilton, whose wife is a Google VP, did not declare all of his meetings with the group. This is especially murky given that Google are lobbying hard for changes to UK copyright law. Now they have poached a key cog in Cameroon machine. It’s all rather too cosy for Guido’s liking. A long spell in the cooler is surely a necessity before the Chatwin hits sunny California…

UPDATE: Policy wonk James O’Shaughnessy is also said to be off. Though that one has done the rounds many times…