Archive for March, 2011

At a time when Whitehall faces unprecedented cuts, and with a new ministerial management team in charge, it could be assumed that there would be a premium on experience and stability among top officials.

Manchester boasts the greatest concentration of students west of Moscow.

“Overpaid public sector workers ripping off the taxpayer with gold plated pensions”. This is the stuff of tabloid headlines but also reflects a perception within government and beyond that the way in which public servants are rewarded cannot continue as before. Hence the two Hutton reviews.

In November 1996, the evening before the Budget, when I was Press Secretary at the Treasury, I had a phone call from No.10.  The Daily Mirror had a leaked copy of the Chancellor’s Budget speech.  They were planning to print. No.10 was trying to get an injunction – but we needed to make a...

Sending armed forces into military action is one of the heaviest responsibilities faced by a Prime Minister.  But it is one Government can take under prerogative powers without the consent of Parliament.  Ever since the Iraq war there has been a long running debate about how and when MPs should be involved in approving...

BBC4′s The Secret World of Whitehall last night gave a fascinating glimpse into the secretive world of the incumbent Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell and the interactions between the Cabinet Office and No 10.

The first quarter of 2011 has seen an unprecedented cluster of natural disasters in developed countries – from floods in Queensland and Victoria, to the Christchurch earthquake, to the devastation of northern Japan, with the added risk of nuclear fallout.

The Full Monty, the 1997 comic hit about a group of unemployed Sheffield steelworkers, leaves outsiders with three misleading long-term impressions about the city – that steelmaking died; that low value jobs were the only replacement; and that the better-off largely fled the city.

Prime ministers have sought to bolster the numbers by appointing unpaid ministers and platoons of parliamentary private secretaries. Currently, 141 MPs, 22 per cent of the total, hold some sort of position. This seems at odds with David Cameron’s pledge to cut the cost of politics.

John Reid had a go when he described the Home Office as “not fit for purpose”. Last week the Cabinet Secretary revealed that he had had to write to the Prime Minister asking him to rein in special advisors after personal attacks on a public official. And yesterday the Prime Minister himself was at...