Despite having little public profile beyond Westminster circles and those familiar with his past role as political editor of the Spectator, Forsyth has been a near-constant companion to the prime minister since becoming his political secretary on Christmas Eve 2022.. Forsyth went on to be the best man at Sunak’s wedding and played a key role in helping his friend become an MP.
Forsyth slotted into the job of political secretary with relative ease – with the role’s duties ranging from being a sounding board to a personal policy wonk for Sunak. In previous incarnations, the holder acted as the prime minister’s link to MPs, heading off dissent. Despite having long-established relationships with ministers from his time at the Spectator and as a columnist for rightwing newspapers, Forsyth was always going to be a focus of suspicion for disaffected MPs angry at Sunak’s role in
The same source suggested Forsyth was involved in the “wobble” of last year, when the Conservatives moved away from talking about their “five-point plan”, which included bringing immigration and inflation down and tackling the NHS backlog, to a strategy that became known as “Make sense of the UK election campaign with Archie Bland's daily briefing, direct to your inbox at 5pm .