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Kate Garvey (born ) is an English
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
executive and the former
diary secretary The Ministerial Diary Secretary or simply Diary Secretary or Diary Manager is a role in the private office of United Kingdom government ministers A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies i ...
of
British prime minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
. She is a co-founder of Project Everyone, a communications and campaigning agency promoting the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
'
Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
.


Career


Political staff member

Garvey's career began as a personal assistant for the Labour Party under leader
Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a Welsh politician who was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 Labour Party le ...
. From there, she moved to become
diary secretary The Ministerial Diary Secretary or simply Diary Secretary or Diary Manager is a role in the private office of United Kingdom government ministers A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies i ...
for
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
. In 1994 during Blair's leadership bid, Garvey suggested that
Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, (born 21 October 1953) is a British politician, lobbyist and diplomat who has served as British Ambassador to the United States since February 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Mandelson serve ...
, who was at the time being derided by the trade unions and other Labour factions, should adopt a "
nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...
" 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 John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a British television executive and businessman. He is a former Director-General (1992–2000) of the BBC. After a successful career in commercial television, initially at Granada Television and ...
, 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 story in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'', "Babes on the Bus who keep the campaign journalists at bay", described Garvey as one of a band of women led by
Anji Hunter Angela Margaret Jane Hunter, Baroness Hunter of Auchenreoch (born 29 July 1955), is a Scottish public relations advisor. She is noted for her close partnership with former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Early life Hunter was born in Kuala Lumpur, M ...
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 A Journey may refer to: * ''A Journey'' (memoir), a 2010 memoir by Tony Blair * ''A Journey'' (film), a 2024 Philippine drama film * ''A Journey'' (album), an 2015 album by Maciek Pysz *''A Journey...'', a 2022 album by Hinako Omori is a Japan ...
'', Blair reflected on Garvey's importance:
" hewas 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."


Public relations

After leaving government in 2005, Garvey worked on
Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...
's charity campaign,
Make Poverty History Make Poverty History were organizations in a number of countries, which focused on issues relating to 8th Millennium Development Goal such as aid, trade and justice. They generally formed a coalition of aid and development agencies which worked ...
, which produced the
Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005 ...
concerts. That same year, she was hired by PR firm Freud Communications as the head of public and social affairs. Garvey was selected by the
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
in 2007 as a "
Young Global Leader Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), is a non-profit organization. The organization was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and is managed from Geneva, Switzerland, under the supervision of the Sw ...
", a designation awarded to persons under 40 who have shown
leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
qualities. Garvey is mentioned in a 2008 ''Telegraph'' profile on
Matthew Freud Matthew Rupert Freud (born 2 November 1963) is a British entrepreneur and public relations executive and head of Freud Communications, an international public relations firm in the United Kingdom. Early life Freud was born in London, the young ...
as 'reportedly managing the Freud-Blair relationship'. The article describes an ongoing connection of Blair and Freud in terms of socialising (Freud throwing celebrity-attended parties) as well as Freud advising Tony and
Cherie Blair Cherie, Lady Blair (; born 23 September 1954), also known professionally as Cherie Booth, is an English barrister and writer. She is the spouse of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair. Early life and education Booth was born ...
on how to best exploit events such as the World Economic Forum's Davos retreat ('what parties to go to'). A 2010 article by ''
PRWeek ''PRWeek'' is a trade magazine and news website for the public relations and wider communications industry. It is published by Haymarket Media Group. History ''PRWeek'' was originally launched as a private venture in 1984 and was acquired b ...
'' mentioned Garvey's clients as including the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
and
Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...
, both held in London. Other clients included the
Tony Blair Faith Foundation The Tony Blair Faith Foundation was an interfaith charitable foundation established in May 2008 by former British prime minister Tony Blair. Since December 2016 its work has been continued by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Launc ...
,
Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase Environmentalism, environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Live Earth 2007 The 1st series ...
, the
Maternal Mortality Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to p ...
campaign and Jordan's
Queen Rania Rania Al Abdullah (born Rania Al-Yassin, 31 August 1970) is Queen of Jordan as the wife of King Abdullah II. Rania's domestic activities include education, youth, environmental, and health initiatives. Globally, she has campaigned for educati ...
. An earlier biography mentioned Garvey as having served the singer
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...
. Garvey is the co-founder of Project Everyone, a campaign group dedicated to promoting the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
'
Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
.


Personal life

Garvey is married to
Jimmy Wales Jimmy Donal Wales (born August 7, 1966), also known as Jimbo Wales, is an American List of Internet entrepreneurs, Internet entrepreneur and former Trader (finance), financial trader. He is a Founders of Wikipedia, co-founder of the non-profi ...
, the co-founder of Wikipedia. It is Wales' third marriage and Garvey's first. The couple met in
Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
in 2009 and then began dating in 2010 after meeting again at
Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...
. They had both been
Young Global Leaders Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), is a non-profit organization. The organization was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and is managed from Geneva, Switzerland, under the supervision of the Sw ...
in 2007. In 2011, Wales moved to Britain. They married in October 2012 at
Wesley's Chapel Wesley's Chapel (originally the City Road Chapel) is a Methodist Church of Great Britain, Methodist church situated in the St Luke's, London, St Luke's area in the south of the London Borough of Islington. Opened in 1778, it was built under the ...
in London. Garvey and Wales live in
Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...
, London with their two daughters. Wales also has one daughter from a previous marriage.


References


Further reading

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garvey, Kate 1970s births Living people English public relations people Date of birth missing (living people) Jimmy Wales Labour Party (UK) officials New Labour People from Marylebone