One of Boris Johnson’s closest aides was “a supporter” of Ed Miliband as Labour leader, it has been claimed.
Allegra Stratton, the Prime Minister’s press secretary, was said to be “in the frame” for a role in the former Labour leader’s office.
In the latest edition of his diaires, out on Thursday, Alastair Campbell said that Ms Stratton, who is close to the Prime Minister, had also “almost worked” for Mr Miliband as Climate Secretary.
His claims could be uncomfortable for Ms Stratton, who will become the public face of the Tory Government if it presses ahead with daily televised briefings, as they raise questions about her Tory credentials.
Mr Miliband was Labour leader from 2010 until 2015, when he stood down after losing the election to David Cameron, heralding the advent of the Corbyn era.
On November 30, 2010, Mr Campbell wrote that he had spoken with the senior MP about appointing somebody as his top media aide.
“People in his team seem sure Allegra Stratton is also in the frame for something,” he writes.
“Quite good friends with him apparently, and she had almost worked for him when he was Climate Change Secretary."
Mr Campbell, who was Tony Blair ’s Director of Communications at No 10, added: “Always assumed she is fairly classic Guardian, if more New Labour than most.”
Ms Stratton worked for the Guardian before joining the BBC, then ITV. She left journalism to work for Chancellor Rishi Sunak before moving to No 10 last year.
On December 3, 2010, Mr Campbell added: “The Allegra Stratton thing had fizzled out. Apparently she has landed a column."
But by January 11 the following year, her name was in the frame again: “Tom [Baldwin] said Allegra Stratton, who sounds like she is still keen to get in there, had been on to him and anyone else who will listen, saying that ‘the real Ed’ was warm, funny and clever, but that was not coming over.”
Ms Stratton, who along with the PM's fiancee Carrie Symonds was said to be involved in the departure of top aides Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain from No 10, did not take the job.
The Mirror understands that she turned it down because she did not feel she was sufficiently pro-Labour.
Mr Johnson is believed to have been told about the job offer when the ex-journalist joined his team but was unconcerned.
Five years later, when she was working for BBC Newsnight, Mr Campbell had lunch with Ms Stratton.
“She felt Ed was doing better but that he was still not punching through,” he writes in his diary, which covers 2010-2015.
“The sense in the lobby was that Cameron was not that great, Ed was better than the public perception, but neither was he setting the world on fire.
“She said she was a supporter, and though constrained by where she was, more than at The Guardian, keen to help.”
Ms Stratton confirmed to the Mirror that she had been offered a job by Mr Miliband.
She has previously admitted that she was also offered a job by Mr Miliband's older brother, David, when he was foreign secretary, but turned it down.
And she has described herself as a "Johnson Tory" who voted for Brexit, although she has previously voted for Labour and the Green party in her 20s.
