Isaac Levido: the Australian strategist charged with delivering a Tory election victory

The political campaigning strategist credited with winning Boris Johnson the 2019 general election has returned to Conservative HQ as the party gears up to take the country to the polls.

It was just after the general election exit poll was announced on the evening of 12 December 2019, "indicating a crushing defeat for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party", that Conservative Party staff at their Westminster HQ "began chanting a name to the tune of The White Stripes' anthem 'Seven Nation Army': 'Oh, Isaac Levido…'", said Byline Times.

It was not "just a taunt at Corbyn, whose name had similarly been chanted to that tune by crowds of adoring supporters", but recognition from the Tory election team that "it was Levido's work as its campaign director that had delivered Boris Johnson’s landslide". 

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Four years later, the Conservative Party is hoping once again that the 40-year-old "Australian wunderkind" can deliver a fifth successive election victory for Rishi Sunak's divided Tories.

The mind behind the UK's most recognisable campaign slogans

The "famously-hirsute" Levido is a protégé of "legendary campaign guru" Lynton Crosby, who helped David Cameron secure two election victories and Boris Johnson two stints as Mayor of London, said Politico. 

In political circles, Levido enjoys a quiet celebrity "best cultivated away from the cameras", said The House magazine. He is known to be "temperamentally reserved" with a "dry wit". 

Levido, 40, is said to be "obsessed" with Belgian cyclist Wout van Aert; a "domestique de luxe" in the highly successful Jumbo-Visma Tour de France team, a role which requires "half killing himself to protect his leaders and drag the team through the mountains". And Levido, it is said, expects "similar Tory discipline and graft as he tries to get Sunak over the line", said the Financial Times (FT).

Growing up in Maitland, New South Wales, he trained as an accountant before taking a master's at Georgetown University in the US, where he worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and later as a junior diplomat at the Australian embassy. 

Meeting Crosby in 2013, he joined his campaign consultancy company CTF the same year. He was brought into David Cameron's 2015 election campaign – an election that Cameron then "surprisingly won", having focused relentlessly on his "long-term economic plan", said the paper. 

As a political strategist, Levido has won a reputation as someone "adept at coming up with taut campaigning slogans", and credited with such hits as Johnson’s "Get Brexit Done" and the Covid-era "Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives". 

He was slated for a top job as head of strategy after he helped Johnson become prime minister in 2019, but the role was instead given to the controversial political spinner Dominic Cummings. 

After the 2019 election win, Levido founded strategic communications company Fleetwood Strategy, which "has developed a reputation for discreet, data-driven influence advice", said Politico. But this month he returned to Conservative HQ to put the party on a battle-footing for the next general election, likely to come in late 2024.

Election campaign will put economy 'front and centre'

This week, Levido delivered a sharp reminder to the Tory party of the damage infighting was doing to the its election prospects. He was speaking to MPs after The Telegraph published a major poll suggesting Keir Starmer would win a majority of 120 if the election were held tomorrow.

He was quick to downplay the poll, as well as its "mysterious" Tory backers who "seem to be intent on undermining this government", said Katy Balls in The Spectator. But Levido warned MPs that "divided parties fail", adding that voters were unconvinced by Starmer and are "looking for reasons to vote for us. We must not give them any more reasons not to." 

When it comes to the message the Tories will be pushing in an election year, Levido plans to put the economy "front and centre", said Balls. And as for Brexit, the party will talk up "the benefits rather than reprosecute the case for it". 

Speaking to the FT, a veteran Conservative adviser called Levido "one of the best campaigners around". But he added that there were questions over "whether Rishi will give Isaac licence to run the campaign as he sees fit". 

"Will he be able to work with Isaac?" asked the unnamed adviser. "Frankly, they don’t have a better option."