Steve Hilton set to leave Downing Street for sabbatical

Hilton, who has been at Number 10 since the general election, is leaving for a year’s sabbatical, with plans to teach in California.

Hilton will take an unpaid academic sabbatical at Stanford University, starting this summer.

A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘With his wife and young family, Steve will be moving to California. He will join Stanford as a visiting scholar at the university’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and will also be a visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.’

The statement added that Hilton will spend his year on campus teaching, researching and writing, and will focus on innovation in government, public services and communities around the world.

Since joining Cameron during their days in Conservative Central Office, Hilton has been involved in the process of ‘detoxifying’ the Conservative brand, and was also responsible for the maligned Big Society brand.

This article was first published on prweek.com