With a UK General Election likely during 2024, public affairs agency Cogitamus Limited has appointed Flo Hutchings and Michael Stephenson to increase the firm’s capability in engaging with the next generation of politicians across the UK.
London-based Flo Hutchings brings extensive experience from in and around the modern Labour Party, having worked on policy, campaigns and communications for a number of frontline UK political pressure groups and NGOs along with having experience advising MPs, Peers, the Shadow frontbench and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates on policy, data and strategic communications.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Hutchings managed the largest APPG in parliamentary history and set up the UK’s first independent, cross-party commission on the Government’s post-Brexit trade and business policy.
Hutchings serves as Vice-Chair of the Kensington Labour Party and recently co-founded the Labour insider podcast 'The Power Test’ which explores how a future Labour government could run the UK.
Hutchings’ qualifications include first-class degrees in History and Politics from the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford along with a post-graduate diploma in Law.
Leeds-based Michael Stephenson brings further senior level expertise to the Cogitamus network of consultants in the regions and nations of the UK.
A veteran of Labour’s last period in government - having served as a senior adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair - Stephenson subsequently held the position of General Secretary of the Co-operative Party which operates in partnership with Labour and is the third largest grouping in the UK Parliament. Stephenson’s career includes serving as a senior adviser to a member of the Shadow Cabinet and Transport Policy Officer at the Labour Party headquarters.
Stephenson brings extensive experience in regional affairs, having worked directly with local authorities, combined authorities, development bodies, MPs and business organisations on a number of challenging issues in Yorkshire and the wider North of England.
In the private and mutual sectors, Stephenson ran the UK office of Australian public affairs firm Hawker Britton, held the positions of Executive Director of Corporate Communications at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, Project Manager for the Co-operative Group, Director of Campaigns for a high-profile animal welfare charity and Director of the Greater Manchester consortium of Citizens Advice.
Stephenson has also worked at the highest levels of Australian government, having served as Chief of Staff to the Premier of the State of Queensland and held the same position for the Queensland Minister for Education.
Stephenson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Queensland and has taught politics at Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology.
Cogitamus Limited Chief Executive, Mark Walker, said:
“Cogitamus is proud of its unique business model which was designed from the outset to work with all the main political parties across the nations and regions of the UK on matters of importance to our clients. In my fiftieth year of political involvement, I am to say the least intrigued to see what 2024 holds for British politics. Bringing Flo Hutchings and Michael Stephenson into the Cogitamus team builds on our award-winning capabilities and provides outstanding insight for us to advise clients on how the next government could be expected to change all parts of the UK.”