Kate Garvey

Kate Garvey
Occupation	Diary secretary, head of public and social affairs
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Jimmy Wales (m. 2012)

Garvey's career began as a personal assistant for the Labour party under leader Neil Kinnock. From there, she moved to become diary secretary for Tony Blair.

In 1994 during Blair's leadership bid, Garvey suggested that Peter Mandelson, who was at the time being derided by the trade unions and other Labour factions, should adopt a "nom de guerre" to conceal his considerable role within the campaign team. Mandelson agreed to be called "Bobby" for the duration. In his victory speech, Blair referred to Mandelson by the false name.

From 1997 until 2005, except for campaign seasons, Garvey worked in the Prime Minister's Private Office. She was responsible for presentation and planning of domestic and foreign events and visits. By 2005, Garvey's role had progressed to scheduling. Aide Katie Kay, who had worked for Blair's advisor John Birt, had taken over the diary secretary job.

On the campaign circuit, Garvey worked on Blair's behalf in the general election of 1997 and of 2001. A 2001 Telegraph story, "Babes on the Bus who keep the campaign journalists at bay", described Garvey as one of a band of women led by Anji Hunter who kept discipline on the political tour with their superior-to-male attention to detail. In Blair's 2005 election, Garvey ran his election tour.

In his memoir A Journey, Blair reflected on Garvey's importance:

"[She] was the gatekeeper, the custodian of the diary. There is a whole PhD thesis to be written by some smart political student about the importance of scheduling to a modern prime minister or president...She ran the diary with a grip of iron and was quite prepared to squeeze the balls very hard indeed of anyone who interfered, but with a winning smile of course."

After leaving government in 2005, Garvey worked on Bob Geldof's charity campaign, Make Poverty History, which produced the Live 8 concerts. That same year, she was hired by PR firm Freud Communications as the head of public and social affairs.

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