Indian-origin man chief of new media at Downing Street
Sunday November 07, 2010 06:43:51 PM,
IANS
|
London:
Rishi Saha, an Indian-origin internet expert who devised a "Pimp
My Party" online game for British Prime Minister David Cameron,
has been given a 50,000 pounds-a-year post at the Downing Street,
a media report said Sunday.
Saha, a former Conservative candidate, is one of a growing number
of members of the Cameron's inner circle to be parachuted into
plum jobs at Downing Street on the public payroll, Daily Mail
reported.
Saha, 30, is "head of new media" with control over its website,
the premier's "Webcameron" and other internet projects.
The disclosure of Saha's role follows controversy over the
appointment of Andrew Parsons as Cameron's "vanity photographer"
-- a proposal first revealed by the Daily Mail on Sunday in June.
The ever-expanding "Cameron clique" at Downing Street and the
Cabinet Office, paid for by taxpayers, has led to mounting
criticism from Labour and, privately, from some Tory MPs who say
the Camerons are falling into the same trap as the image-fixated
Blairs, the report said.
Saha is a protege of Cameron's image guru Steve Hilton.
The pair were the driving force behind the campaign to ditch the
Tories' old-fashioned style. Shaven-headed Mr Saha, who wears
designer jackets, is said to model himself on Hilton.
A Tory spokesman defended the appointments: "All governments do
this. These people have worked for the party and do invaluable
work for the government. Rishi Saha is an invaluable member of the
team."
Saha was director of the modernising "Wave" network of young
Tories, entering politics after working for youth charities.
He once promoted hip-hop nights at clubs in Nottingham and
transformed the stuffy Tory Winter Ball, moving its venue from the
staid Grosvenor House hotel on London's Park Lane to Old
Billingsgate and promoting it with the slogan "So hip it hurts".
Saha stood for the Tories in Brent South in the 2005 general
election, coming third in a seat won easily by Labour.
His projects include the "Pimp My Party" online game, a parody of
the MTV show "Pimp My Ride".
It presented the pre-Cameron Tory Party as a "clapped-out old
banger" and challenged activists to update its image.
Saha said of the game: "Young people do not give a stuff. They are
not interested in politics. This is kind of fun and wacky and
left-field so it gets people interested."
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