Andrew Cooper 'Quits' Tory Pollster Role

Reports in the UK press suggest that Andrew Cooper, co-founder of polling firm Populus, is leaving his position as an advisor to PM David Cameron, possibly as a result of differences with Australian election specialist Lynton Crosby.

Reports on www.dailymail.co.uk say that Cooper, a 'modernising influence' in Conservative inner circles and the 'architect of David Cameron's policy on gay marriage' is running up against the more direct tactics of Crosby, former advisor to Boris Johnson and Australian PM John Howard, who assumed charge of the Conservative Party's campaign machine in January this year.

Cooper was made Director of Government Strategy two years ago, and had tried to shift the Conservatives away from what he saw as their 'nasty party' image. The Mail suggests he will return to working at Populus but will do 'some part-time work for Tory HQ'.

The Mail quotes 'a tory source' as saying: 'There was never going to be room for both Andrew and Lynton. Andrew is a fully paid-up Conservative moderniser and believes that the party will never win a governing majority again unless it distances itself from its Thatcherite past. Lynton is an old-fashioned Thatcherite who thinks traditional values and policies are more important than modern fads.' However, today The Spectator's James Forsyth has quoted another source, this one 'a senior Downing Street source' saying 'Andrew Cooper is not leaving No. 10. He May go back to Populus at some point but 'no plans' at the mo''.

Populus co-founder Michael Simmonds told DRNO there was no truth to the suggestion that Cooper has, or is about to, quit, or that he and Crosby are not working together well. 'Andrew took leave of absence from Populus in early 2011 to go and work in Downing Street. Although we always expected him to return before the general election, no firm date was agreed. This is still the case.'

Web site: www.populus.co.uk.