UK Govt Comms Chief, Alex Aiken Resumes as UAE Advisory
Executive director of UK government communications Alex Aiken is leaving the Civil Service after 12 years to take up a new advisory role in the United Arab Emirates.Aiken moves to his new role as communications advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the UAE in April, working to Afra Mahash Alhameli, the ministry’s director of strategic communications.
At the same time, his wife, MP Nickie Aiken, has announced she will step down at the next General Election, due to be held this year.Aiken was behind the 2014 launch of the Government Communication Service (GCS) – the professional body for more than 7,000 communicators across the UK civil service, which has set the global standard for public sector communications.
He spent seven years in Conservative Central Office, where he set up the Conservative Party’s campaigns unit, and was then director of communications and strategy at Westminster City Council between 2000 and 2012.Aiken told PRovoke Media: “I’ve done a dozen years in government and wanted to do something different.
I had some approaches, and was struck by the ambition, talent and commitment in the UAE.”He said his new role had a “wide scope”, including “telling a story, advising on communications, and evaluation” and that he was “really excited” by the move.Aiken added: “After serving five Prime Ministers, four governments and through three elections, two referendums, a pandemic and a war I feel I have done my bit for now.
I feel privileged to have served the Cabinet Office and worked with many talented and committed colleagues. I am proud to have created and led the Government Communication Service to be recognised as the most effective profession in the world in the practice of public service communication.”.
The Cabinet Office said his new role had been vetted through the Cabinet Office Business Appointment Rules process and was subject to the standard conditions governing senior civil service external appointments.
The process for appointing his successor at GCS will be announced in due course.In 2021, the GCS appointed Simon Baugh as its first CEO, with Aiken remaining as executive director but with a focus on national security and international issues.
Aiken, who was the architect of the communications plan around the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, was given an Outstanding Individual Achievement award by PRovoke Media in 2022