Steve Hilton, the former top adviser to David Cameron who was satirised in a British sitcom, is to host his own show on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News.

American viewers will see the man lampooned as a shoeless spin-doctor in The Thick of It in an hour-long show called The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton, according to a report in the FT. The show, which will air on a Sunday night, promises to unpick the ascent of populism on both sides of the Atlantic.

Hilton was one of Cameron’s closest advisers before the pair fell out over immigration and Brexit last year. Hilton clashed with Cameron during the referendum battle when he said the government had been told it would be “impossible” for it to meet its immigration targets while the UK was still a member of the EU. Hilton has said that he still sees Cameron as a friend.

Such views are likely to have endeared him to Murdoch, the pro-Brexit owner of 21st Century Fox who no longer invites Cameron to his dinner parties.



Murdoch has been taking a far greater interest in the management of Fox News since the departure of controversial studio boss Roger Ailes last year. The long-serving former chairman quit amid sexual harassment allegations.

Hilton, a former advertising executive, is thought to have been largely responsible for a host of early Cameron measures and photo opportunities including the husky expedition to Alaska to popularise his “Vote Blue, Go Green” message.

He was appointed as a contributor on politics and technology on the Fox News channel and the Fox Business Network last December. At the time the film and television group said Hilton would offer “political and tech expertise and analysis”.

Hilton is married to Rachel Whetstone, the former Google executive who is now Uber’s senior vice-president of policy and communications. He is also the chief executive of the startup Crowdpac, which aims to match people to politicians and ideologies.

As Cameron’s head of strategy he was the inspiration for Stewart Pearson in The Thick of It, described as “the eco-friendly, media-savvy, blue-sky-thinking director of communications for the Cabinet Office”.

Since leaving Cameron’s team in 2012, Hilton backed Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton for the US presidency, writing for Fox in November: “You don’t have to agree with everything Donald Trump says or does to conclude that he would make the most positive, practical difference in the real lives of real people.” He backed Brexit but has since criticised the government for “dark” policies that “pull up the drawbridge” to the rest of the world.

Fox News scored record ratings in 2016 thanks to interest in the US election, ending the year as the most watched primetime cable channel.