John Lewis Partnership hires head of corporate affairs

John Lewis Partnership has named Clayton Hirst as its new group head of corporate affairs. Hirst will join the retail group on April 24 from Virgin Media, where he has served as director of external communications since 2015.

Prior to joining Virgin Media, Hirst spent 10 years at the regulator Ofcom in a number of roles before becoming its director of communications in 2010. His early career was in journalism, working as a reporter and editor on a number of national publications, including the Independent on Sunday.

Simon Fowler, director of communications at John Lewis Partnership, said: "Clayton joins us to head up our corporate affairs team at a time of huge significance for the Partnership as we help the business develop its thinking on the key priorities emerging from the Government's Industrial Strategy. This includes the UK's direction post-Brexit as well as the issues facing the Partnership from the pressures we've called out affecting society, retail, and the workplace.”