The Department of Prime Minister
When Gordon Brown becomes Britain’s Prime Minister at the end of the month, he will be the 52nd person to occupy that role – the line stretches all the way from Sir Robert Walpole who served from 1721-1742. This weekend’s “Guardian” contains a wall chart picturing each of these Prime Ministers.
Understandably there has been much speculation about the policy changes that we can expect from a Brown Administration but, for Whitehall watchers such as myself, there is also keen interest in the style of government that Brown will exhibit.
As PM, Tony Blair has centralised power in No 10 and deployed political advisers to a greater extent than any other occupant of the role. Some have talked of the structure he has created as representing in effect a Department of the Prime Minister.
This has led Andrew Blick (author of “People Who Live In The Dark: The History Of The Special Adviser In British Politics” [my review here]) and G.W. Jones (Professor of Politics at the London School of Economics), to contribute a thoughtful article for “History & Policy” which argues that:
“Tony Blair has constructed a semi-official ‘Department of the Prime Minister’. Historical experience suggests this body should be disbanded. Premiers have always relied on aides and each incumbent has made a personal mark on his or her team. One way in which a successor to Blair can establish a distinct identity is through using assistants in a different way The process of attaching functions to the team of the Prime Minister and subsequently separating them from it is well established. The next British premier can easily discard some of the aides and units that have served Blair.”
The early signs from Brown are reasonably promising. In an article in the “Times”, Peter Riddell suggests: “We are not going to see a prime minister’s department, as recently urged by Sir Michael Barber, the former head of the Delivery Unit. The Brown camp does not want to give the appearance of presidentialism: rather the reverse.” Also, as evidenced from this article in the “Guardian”, Brown’s first civil service appointments are well-chosen.
June 19th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Thanks for the blog.
Michael White argued in the Guardian the other day that Brown is only creating the impression of a change in style. It may be that he is importing allies from the Treasury and saying they are working for the Cabinet – but in reality they are working for him! We will see…