Who are the two political assistants paid by Doncaster Council to advise Mayor Jones and Reform UK?

Group leader councillor Guy Aston confirmed the party had hired Catherine Mullen to the £45,000+ per year position.

Mullen is the outgoing clerk of Edlington Town Council and will be the second “political assistant” on the Doncaster Council payroll.

Robert Gibbon has been executive political assistant to Mayor Ros Jones – and her Labour cabinet – since 2021, but has worked as an officer within the council executive since 2018.

Every political group within the council is entitled to hire a political assistant, however, the current Conservative group have not sought one out.

According to Mr Gibbon’s LinkedIn page, the political assistant role involves providing “political and policy advice and assistance” to their relevant groups.

In his case, Gibbon is also responsible for “supporting and leading on the delivery of the Mayor’s priorities and initiatives, to include high level programmes and projects outlined within the Mayoral Manifesto and Doncaster Delivering Together Borough Strategy”.

The gov.uk website describes political assistants as “local government employees who undertake research and provide administrative support for the main political groups within an authority”.

However, whilst they are hired to provide support for a particular political group, they are politically restricted roles under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

It means that they cannot stand for election, act as an election agent or sub-agent, be an officer of a political party, manage a party or branch of a party, and cannot canvas on behalf of a political party or candidate for election.

Political assistants are, however, permitted to speak to the public with the intention of affecting support for a political party, but their actions must not give the impression that they are acting as the representative of the political party.

Both Gibbon and Mullen’s positions give them the ears of Doncaster’s most powerful, in Mayor Jones, and most vocal, in Reform UK, respectively – but who are they?

Robert Gibbon

Gibbon has worked within the City of Doncaster Council for more than a decade, starting as a national management trainee in 2014, the same year he graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a degree in politics.

He handles communications for the Mayor and is the first point-of-contact for the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) when making enquiries to her.

Additionally, Gibbon is often present for Ros Jones’ interviews with the press and often works with the mayor on any statements or answers she gives in the council chamber.

Outside of Doncaster Council, Gibbon spent seven months as maternity cover for a constituency office manager to a local Doncaster MP in 2020/2021.

Between May 2014 and 2015, he was a town councillor on Hebden Boyd Town Council, in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire.

Gibbon also works part-time on a family farm in the West Yorkshire town.

Catherine Mullen

Mullen’s hiring has reportedly been well-received by officers around Doncaster Council.

She is an experienced civil servant, most recently serving as clerk of Edlington Town Council.

An old LinkedIn page belonging to Mullen reveals her extensive professional history, which finishes with her role working as an accredited parliamentary assistant in the European Parliament in Brussels.

She spent five years working in Brussels, with the end of her role there coinciding with the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union in January 2020.

Reform UK group leader Guy Aston told the LDRS in a recent interview that Mullen had “lots of UKIP MEPs dumped on her and she had to teach them the ropes”.

Mullen’s LinkedIn additionally details working as a government adviser in the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK, as well as roles in international marketing and at well-known companies such as Eon and Aviva.

The profile describes her as specialising in “making sense of UK and EU legislation, identifying, explaining and consulting on intended and unintended consequences” as well as being a skilled advertiser and communicator.

Her name is listed as an assentor for Bessacarr ward councillor Nick Allen, when he ran as the Conservative candidate for South Yorkshire Mayor in 2024.

Mullen started her new position on August 21, 2025.