At the Center of Whitehall: Advising the Prime Minister and Cabinet

308 Pages·1998·15.91 MB·English

by  J. M. Lee

AT THE CENTRE OF WHITEHALL

At the Centre of
Whitehall
Advising the Prime Minister and Cabinet
J. M. Lee
Emeritus Professor of Politics
University of Bristol
G. W. Jones
Professor of Government
London School of Economics and Political Science
and
June Burnham
Senior Lecturer in European Government
Middlesex University
f£
First published in Great Britain 1998 by
& MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-333-71955-7
First published in the United States of America 1998 by
* ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 0-312-17730-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lee, J. M. (John Michael)
At the centre of Whitehall: advising the Prime Minister and the
Cabinet / J.M. Lee, G.W. Jones, and June Burnham.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-312-17730-5
1. Executive advisory bodies—Great Britain. 2. Prime ministers-
-Great Britain—Staff. 3. Great Britain—Politics and
government—1979- I. Jones, G. W. (George William) II. Burnham,
June. III. Title.
JN409.L44 1997
352.2'5'0941 —dc21 97-21583
CIP
© J. M. Lee, G. W. Jones and June Burnham 1998
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vi
Preface viii
1 Introduction 1
2 Shaping the Centre 15
Part I Supporting the Prime Minister
3 The Prime Minister's Office: The Overall Picture 29
4 The Private Office 41
5 The Press Office 69
6 The Political Office 84
7 The Policy Unit and Other Policy Advisers 100
Part II Managing Government Business
8 The Administrative Setting of Cabinet Responsibilities 133
9 Servicing Cabinet and its Committees 154
10 Inquiry and Analysis 186
11 The 'Sinecure' Ministers 206
12 Organizing and Managing the Civil Service 231
13 Conclusion 248
Notes 262
Bibliography 281
Index 289
v
List of Figures and Tables
FIGURES
1.1 Schematic map of central offices 3
1.2 Organizational diagram of central offices, ministers
and advisers 4
3.1 Number of staff in the Prime Minister's Office 32
3.2 Costs of the PMO, 1980-95 (in 1994-5 prices) 34
3.3 Some costs of the PMO, 1986-95 34
4.1 Private office: layout of rooms 41
7.1 Cost of the Policy Unit 101
8.1 Cabinet Office organization 1979 to 1983 134
8.2 Cabinet Office organization 1983 to 1992 135
8.3 Cabinet Office organization 1992 to 1995 136
TABLES
3.1 Size of sections of the Prime Minister's Office 30
3.2 Number of staff in the Prime Minister's Office 31
3.3 Cost of the Prime Minister's Office in 1994-5 prices 33
3.4 Some Costs in the Prime Minister's Office, 1992-3 33
4.1 Aides in the Private Office: Principal Private Secretary 55
4.2 Aides in the Private Office: Private Secretary (overseas
affairs) 56
4.3 Aides in the Private Office: Private Secretary
(economic) 59
4.4 Aides in the Private Office: Private Secretary (home or
parliamentary), 1979-85 60
4.5 Aides in the Private Office: Private Secretary (home
or parliamentary), 1986-95 61
4.6 Aides in the Private Office: Private Secretary (overseas
secretary post created 1994) 62
4.7 Aides in the Private Office: Secretary for Appointments 63
5.1 Aides in the Press Office: Chief Press Secretary 70
5.2 Aides in the Press Office: Deputy Chief Press Secretary 72
5.3 Press Office costs 73
vi
List of Figures and Tables vii
6.1 Aides in the Political Office: Chief-of-Staff and Political
Secretary 89
6.2 Aides in the Political Office: Parliamentary Private
Secretary 93
7.1 Costs of Prime Minister's Policy Advisers, 1981-95 102
7.2 Aides in the Policy Unit: Head of Policy Unit and Special
Adviser to Unit 105
7.3 Aides in the Policy Unit: Advisers from Civil Service,
1979-90 (Thatcher) 107
7.4 Aides in the Policy Unit: Advisers from Civil Service,
1990-5 (Major) 108
7.5 Aides in the Policy Unit: Advisers from outside civil
service, 1979-84 (Thatcher) 109
7.6 Aides in the Policy Unit: Advisers from outside civil
service, 1984-90 (Thatcher) 111
7.7 Aides in the Policy Unit: Advisers from outside civil
service, 1990-4 (Major) 113
7.8 Aides in the Policy Unit: Advisers from outside civil
service, 1995 (Major) 114
7.9 Aides in the Prime Minister's Office: Individual Policy
Advisers 125
8.1 Principal Events in the Life of the Cabinet Office 139
8.2 Cabinet Secretaries, 1916-95 140
8.3 Numbers of Staff in Cabinet Office, 1980-94 144
8.4 Numbers of staff in the Cabinet Office 145
8.5 Size and Cost of Cabinet Office, 1994-5 146
8.6 Cost of Cabinet Office, 1979-95 147
8.7 Postings to Cabinet Office, 1949-89 148
8.8 Postings to 'Cabinet Office proper' from departments 149
9.1 Numbers of Staff in Cabinet Secretariats in 1990 164
9.2 Postings to Policy Secretariats from Departments 166
9.3 Departmental Composition of Policy Secretariats A, B, C,
DandE 169
11.1 Senior Sinecure Ministers, 1979-90 208
11.2 Other Sinecure Ministers, 1979-90 209
11.3 Senior Sinecure Ministers, 1990-5 210
11.4 Other Sinecure Ministers, 1990-5 210
11.5 Ministers chairing Cabinet Committees (numbers) 211
11.6 Ministers chairing Cabinet Committees (percentages) 212
Preface
The machinery at the heart of British government is gradually being
demystified. This book is part of that process of revelation. It takes its
origin from two sources: George Jones's long-standing work on 10
Downing Street - the Prime Minister's private office - and Michael Lee's
draft chapters on the Cabinet Office, which he abandoned in 1980 when he
felt the restrictions placed on what he might write did not allow the stan
dard of scholarship he wished to maintain. Both authors have been sup
ported in their research by June Burnham, who assisted them when they
were invited in 1990 to submit separate papers for a conference organized
by Dr David Hine. June Burnham took charge of the construction of a
book based on this conference material. Without her it would never have
been completed. She is the principal author of Chapters 11 and 12 which
cover those parts of the centre not tied directly to No. 10 or to the Cabinet
Office.
The authors would like to thank all those who helped them in the col
lection of material. They were freely able to talk to civil servants involved
in these matters, who were open and helpful within proper boundaries. We
are grateful to them for their kindness.
vm
1 Introduction
The structure of the British constitution shapes the institutions and proce
dures at the centre of government. The conduct of government business
follows many formalities that originated in the patronage of the Crown
and the lack of separation between the executive and the legislature.
Certain principles of organization follow from the monarch inviting an in
dividual to be prime minister and to form an administration on the strength
of the majority he or she can command in the House of Commons. The
body of ministers thus created to run a set of departments of state has to
find ways of acting collectively in order to implement common policies
and to retain its majority.
The tasks government performs under the force of external circum
stances require regular improvisation and modification to procedures. War,
international trade, finance and the expectations of the people for welfare
provision have all shaped the changes that have been made. During the
last thirty years those working at the centre have become more aware of
the role of the media, especially television. The prime minister and the
setting in which he or she works seem more familiar to the general public.
Even the secretary of the Cabinet and the Cabinet Office are more widely
known. The 'open government' initiative has extended the information
available about the prime minister and other members of the Cabinet.
This book maps the various elements at the centre of national govern
ment, sometimes called 'the core executive'.1 It focuses on the structures,
networks and processes that support the prime minister, Cabinet and other
senior ministers, preparing them for the decisions they have to take and
ensuring their wishes are carried out. The main problem in explaining the
centre of the machine is to set the strength of constitutional tradition
against the influence of economic and social developments that determine
the agenda of politics both at home and abroad. At one level of interpreta
tion the present system can be seen as the product of two world wars.
They required methods of regulating the economy and of organizing pro
duction that could not have been effected without administrative support
for a prime minister and Cabinet beyond that provided through the
Treasury's annual control of public expenditure. Until 1977 there was no
separate entry in the Civil Service Year Book for the prime minister and
his private office; before that date they were usually listed under
H.M. Treasury. The powers that mattered to the prime minister in the
1