wirepuller
/ˈwʌɪəpʊlə
/noun North American informal
A person, especially a politician, who exerts control or influence from behind the scenes.These same wirepullers then used the government to push the interstate highway system on the country....
- ‘True enough,’ sighed the wirepuller, recalling his adventures with sock-puppet political appointees.
- Among American Presidents he is the supreme example of the political wirepuller, the leader who gets things done without ever seeming to lead.
Derivatives
wirepulling
- But the legacy in the locality has been one of unsuccessful wirepulling and failed stage-management.
- These were the days of the most flagrant wirepulling and sinister hatching of plots.… In Nova Scotia the patronage system went hand in hand with nepotism.