Sir Lynton Keith Crosby AO (born 23 August 1956)[1][2] is an Australian political strategist who has managed election campaigns for right-of-centre parties in several countries.
Crosby first ventured into overseas politics at the 2005 United Kingdom general election, where he managed the Conservative Party's unsuccessful campaign.
[citation needed] Crosby managed the Conservative Party's 2005 United Kingdom general election campaign, but was unable to help leader Michael Howard defeat the incumbent Prime Minister Tony Blair.
[8] During Crosby's time as campaign manager, the Conservatives used attention-grabbing slogans such as "It's Not Racist to Impose Limits on Immigration" and "How Would You Feel if a Bloke on Early Release Attacked Your Daughter?
"[8] Crosby was also appointed to run Conservative Boris Johnson's successful 2008 London mayoral election campaign, at a cost to the party of £140,000 for four months of work.
[13] Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow was quoted as saying: "Lynton Crosby cannot remain at the heart of government while he is also serving the interests of the tobacco industry.
"[13] In July 2013, it was reported in The Guardian and elsewhere that Crosby Textor, the company which he co-founded (which is known as CTF Partners in the UK) had advised private healthcare providers on how to exploit perceived "failings" in the National Health Service in 2010.
[19] The campaign featured widespread adverts that contrasted "good governance" offered by the incumbent Prime Minister with the "jungle law" of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose ten-year rule was marked by family corruption and strident nationalism after the 2009 defeat of the Tamil Tigers.
[22] Members of the Labour party were critical of the move,[23] with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn even threatening to overhaul the British honours system if he was ever elected.
[25] In April 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May announced that Crosby would play a leading role in the Conservatives' campaign for the 2017 general election, which May had called early.
[26] May failed to secure an outright Conservative majority and author Hannah Jane described Crosby as running a "disastrous, horrendously negative campaign".
[30][31] In 2019, The Guardian announced it had seen documents revealing that multiple outwardly independent groups behind adverts on Facebook promoting a hard Brexit were administrated by employees of Crosby's lobbying firm, CTF Partners.
[38][39][40] The honour sparked criticism from figures in the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats, who accused Cameron's government of engaging in political cronyism.
[41] Crosby's supporters note that Spencer Livermore, a strategist for the Labour Party, had been awarded a life peerage earlier in the year.