Reuters vet Sean Maguire joins UK ministry in communications role

Former Reuters editor Sean Maguire (photo) has joined the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as its head of news and campaigns. His start this week coincided with the launch of a new strategy by the department, known as Defra, to support bees and other pollinators that are vital for fertilising plants.

Maguire joined Defra from the International Committee of the Red Cross, where he was the organisation’s UK spokesman.

Maguire was Reuters’ editor for political and general news when he left in 2011 after a two-decade career that included coverage of the Balkans and Eastern Europe in the 1990s and the Iraq War in 2003. ■