Lee Edward Cain (born 1981) is a British

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

professional and former journalist who served as

Downing Street Director of Communications The Downing Street director of communications is the post of director of communications for the prime minister of the United Kingdom. The position is held by an appointed special adviser. In September 2022, as part of the incoming Truss mini ...

under

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

from July 2019 until the end of 2020.

Education

Cain attended Ormskirk Grammar School and graduated from

Staffordshire University , mottoeng = Dare to know , type = Public , endowment = £70 million (2015) , administrative_staff = 1,375 , chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford , vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones , ...

Career

Cain began his career as a journalist at the ''

Gloucester Citizen The ''Gloucester Citizen'' is a local British weekly newspaper covering the areas of Gloucester, Stroud and the Forest of Dean. It was a six-day-a-week newspaper until it went weekly in October 2017. The ''Gloucester Citizen'' is headquartered ...

'' and ''The Sun'' before moving to the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...

''. While working for the ''Mirror'' in the run-up to the 2010 general election, Cain was used to taunt David Cameron and other

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MPs dressed as a chicken. After leaving his position as a senior media advisor for Slater and Gordon Lawyers, Cain moved into politics to become head of broadcast for the

Vote Leave Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leav ...

campaign. In addition to serving at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under

Andrea Leadsom Dame Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (; ' Salmon; born 13 May 1963) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Northamptonshire since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Secretary of State for Environ ...

and Michael Gove, he briefly worked for

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

before leaving to work with Johnson while he was serving as

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

. Cain served as the

from 2019 to 2020. In an article about the early days of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, when Johnson was hospitalised, it was commented that "Lee was running the country, genuinely, for quite some time." In November 2020, Cain resigned from his position, and stated that he would leave office at the end of the year. Cain had previously been mentioned as a possible selection for

Downing Street Chief of Staff The office of Downing Street Chief of Staff is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, acting as a senior aide to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of the office retains ...

. In 2021, Cain started his own PR communications agency, Charlesbye.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Lee Living people British political consultants British journalists The Sun (United Kingdom) people Daily Mirror people People educated at Ormskirk Grammar School Alumni of Staffordshire University 1981 births