Draper, Derek (1969– )

UK Labour party political adviser, ‘spin doctor’, and lobbyist, who helped develop the concept of ‘New Labour’.

In 1999 he became the centre of a cash-for-access scandal, concerning his lobbying company's alleged use of his insider connections with key figures in the Blair government to receive prior notice of government decisions and offering introductions to key government figures for a fee. He boasted that ‘There are 17 people (in the Blair administration) who count. And to say I am intimate with every one of them is the understatement of the century’. He later retrained to carve out a successful career as a psychotherapist.

Drawn from a poor, working class background, he studied at Manchester University. In the 1990s he worked for four years as assistant to Peter Mandelson, who, as director of communications, played a key role in modernizing the Labour Party and developing the concept of ‘New Labour’ which helped return Labour to power in 1997, after 18 years in opposition. He was political editor of the culture magazine Modern Review, before becoming a political lobbyist. His 1997 book, The First Hundred Days, uncovered the inner workings of the Blair administration.