Chorley spin doctor returns to New Labour

6:10pm Wednesday 16th July 2008

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A former New Labour spin doctor from Chorley has been drafted back in by officials to help the party avoid defeat at the next general election.

Derek Draper, who grew up in the town, was a special adviser to Peter Mandelson until he quit Labour in the late 1990s to train as a psychotherapist.

But now he has been called back into the fold by party top brass with Labour trailing the Conservatives in opinion polls.

In an email to Labour staff yesterday, the party’s general secretary Ray Collins said: “Derek will be assisting me in thinking through where we need to go organisationally to ensure our campaigning in the next few years matches our past best.”

A Labour spokesman confirmed that Mr Draper, who is married to GMTV presenter Kate Garraway, was working again with the party.