With British Prime Minister Tony Blair [3] expected to retire from politics in the next few weeks, some of his staff are already jumping ship. In August, Blair's former adviser on strategic communications, Julia Simpson [4], will begin work as head of corporate communications with British Airways [5]. In doing so, Simpson is following a well-worn path, reports PR Week. "In 2001, Anji Hunter famously left Downing Street to take up BP [6]’s director of comms role. More recently, key Blairites to jump ship include Darren Murphy, now head of government ­relations and external affairs at AstraZeneca [7] and Jim Godfrey, now head of corporate affairs at ITV." Fleishman-Hillard [8] director Nick Brown believes that Blair's staff will be in great demand among PR circles. "Anyone who has senior ­experience of this type of problem solving in politics, in the media and in the spotlight will attract interest," he said.