Isaac Levido: The quiet Australian behind Rishi Sunak's campaign

A campaign is only one failure away from cataclysmic disaster. Anything can happen at any time.

When Australian political strategist Isaac Levido made this observation about the perils of electioneering, his tone was still electric. Two years earlier he had been instrumental in Scott Morrison's miraculous election victory, and a few months later he had helped Boris Johnson rise to 10th.

Levido was at the home of Sebastian Payne, political editor of the Financial Timewhen he shared his brutal wisdom. He was widely credited with masterminding the triumphant destruction of the Red Wall by the Conservatives, a swath of constituencies in the north of England which had historically supported the Labor Party, and his resolute determination to demonstrate discipline and courage and upholding the message of the notoriously chaotic Johnson was praised across the party.

Fast forward and the Conservatives have once again put their faith in Levido, now 40, but this time his words must come back to haunt him. His new boss, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is making one rain-soaked, war-veteran-insulting gaffe after another, seemingly unable to extricate himself or his party from what increasingly looks like a death spiral.

With less than a week to go before Britain's election, public support for the Conservatives and their third prime minister in two years has fallen to 20 percent, the lowest in polling history. Sir John Curtice, Britain's most trusted elections guru, observed with characteristic understatement that Mr Sunak… must start to doubt his decision to call a snap election.

The situation seemed dire but not hopeless when the quiet communications adviser returned from his corporate lobbying job to the Conservatives' London headquarters in January, at the start of Britain's election year. Levido told assembled MPs days later that Sunak's narrow path to victory was now narrower and steeper. Still, he said, with discipline and a commitment to targeted seats and five key commitments on the economy and border security, they might just get there.

However, in the months since, opposition leader Keir Starmer has carefully avoided any possibility of scaring voters, both in the election campaigns and in Labour's promises and manifesto. Starmer has continued to build an advantage in the polls and now has a 15-point lead as preferred prime minister.

Rishi Sunak's decision to call early elections is said to have dismayed Levido, who appears to have advised against the move. He rarely gives interviews, but in a lengthy conversation with a senior Canadian Conservative official in late 2020, he made this clear
He believed that every party needed at least four
five months to prepare well before calling a vote.

We need to do opinion polls, research, we need to really understand what voters think, what their expectations, their hopes and their fears are for the future. Modern election campaigns are fraught with pitfalls, with high-flying consultants selling luxury goods, he said.

It’s tempting, especially in the run-up to an election, to think of quick fixes that allow you to push a button and not do the heavy lifting. But all campaigns, no matter how short, are hard work: you have to sweat the small stuff and the big stuff will happen. It never does and it never will. You have to be well organized, have a clear strategy, have the confidence to stick to it, and build a good team.

John McTernan, who worked as Tony Blair's political operations director and then Julia Gillard's communications director, says Levido is a clever strategist and pollster, bolstered by an intuitive understanding of focus groups.

He fights hard to win, says McTernan The Saturday newspaperbut just as the best surgeons deal with the most serious cases, to be honest there's not much he can do to avoid catastrophe.

If you're really good and Isaac gives you impossible tasks and it's important that you accept them, you can't just work for winners, he says.

But it is an impossible mission for two big reasons. The first is that there has never been a fifth-term government elected in the UK and it is time to adopt a slogan for change. Second, the Conservatives have committed two catastrophic breaches of policy and emotional contract. The first was Partygate, when voters suddenly realised that the lovable clown Boris Johnson was making fun of them. And then there was Liz Truss, who blew up the economy. The Conservatives are traditionally in charge of economic stability and she has destroyed it.

Levido was born in Maitland, New South Wales, and grew up in Port Macquarie, the eldest of three boys, in a family obsessed with politics. His father was a lawyer, liberal adviser, and a true Kennedy enthusiast. We had a lot of books at home about politics, he said. THE On Sunday.

Educated at local primary and secondary schools, he studied accounting and political science at the Australian National University, initially pursuing a career as a corporate underwriter. It didn't take him long to realise that wasn't his calling, after which he applied to study a master's degree in political science at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

From then on, he never looked back.

In the run-up to the 2012 election, Levido was working at the Australian embassy and reportedly haunted Lynton Crosby until he gave him a job in the Washington office of his lobbying firm, CTF. According to Levido, he wanted to work with Crosby and politely asked him for the next few months.

Not much is known about who was lobbying on behalf of CTF, although the company is known for unapologetically working for a wide range of corporate clients, including the tobacco, mining and fossil fuels.

Between 2013 and 2016, the young Australian worked as Crosby's shadow, observing and learning like David Cameron
won his mandate as Prime Minister. Crosby liked what he saw in his protégé and the admiration was mutual.

Levido says he learned a lot from Crosby. I owe him a lot, he says. THE Sunday hours. Their exceptional success speaks for itself. You want to learn as much from them when they ask you to do something as you do when you observe them performing their role.

In 2020, Levido was recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours list with an OBE for political service. His record is not without its flaws, however. He was at the helm when multimillionaire former Conservative minister Zac Goldsmith launched his ill-fated bid in 2016 to become London mayor, a campaign that failed and died amid accusations of dog-whistling and racism.

Levido was also on the ground during Theresa May's 2017 election campaign, which was supposed to be a resignation campaign for the Conservatives but was derailed when welfare reforms were presented as a so-called tax on dementia.

Unlike his mentor Crosby, well known for his blunt manner and unconservative language, Levido is noted for being relatively taciturn, with an unusually steady temperament and a cool head under pressure.

He has a constant capacity for concentration, starting his team's days at 5:40 a.m., before the morning news kicks off, and finishing late in the evening. Nevertheless, he is well-liked.

During the 2019 campaign, Levido apparently soothed the mood of the many senior officials doing tedious campaign tasks by choosing campaign tunes and playing them from his office loudspeaker. That year, it was the final countdown to Europe; in 2015, it was Queens One Vision. To boost morale, star campaigners are given a stuffed animal: one year, it was an echidna; another, a kiwi.

Veteran Conservative commentator and former parliamentary candidate Iain Dale says Lynton Crosby was very good at motivating people and Levido learned that from him. He said THE Independent This was a key point of difference between Levido and other campaign managers. They may be brilliant tacticians, but they can't really inspire their flocks.

Levido now faces the crucial final days of the anticipated campaign, mustering discipline among more than 80 new candidates chosen as a group of MPs abandoned what they perceived as a sinking ship.

Regardless, whatever the outcome on July 4, like any good strategist, Levido undoubtedly has his personal plan B in place: he will return to Fleetwood Strategy, the corporate lobbying consultancy that he set up just a month after Boris Johnson joined No 10, reportedly racking up his first business million within 18 months of opening his doors.

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