Treasury No.6

The House Magazine - Number 11 & the Treasury No.6

Parliament’s Magazine No.6

Guide to Number 11 &the Treasury

In association with

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Deloitte.indd 1 12/03/2013 13:33:51 The House Supplement No.6 December 2012 othing happens in www.politicshome.com Government without [email protected] N the approval of the political Editor Campaigns Manager Treasury. Whatever the policy Sam Macrory Lenny Rolles area, this is the one department Dods Parliamentary editor commercial development which needs to be understood. Holding the in chief Director Paul Waugh Rob Ellis purse string means questioning and costing Parliamentary editor, Dods ceo any initiative. Is the Prime Minister in charge, Politics Home Keith Sadler or does he have to do battle with Number Tony Grew managing Director commissioning and Special Philip Eisenhart 11 in the way some of his predecessors had Projects Editor The House Magazine to? The Chancellor’s relationship with his Sally Dawson 21 Dartmouth Street, London, colleagues, his advisers (both inside and Editorial Assistant SW1H 9BP Jessica Bowie Editorial from outside the Treasury) and the business Editorial intern [email protected] world at large are important too. This Guide Joseph Briggs Tel 020 7593 5665 to... gives some much needed insights and Head of Production Advertising John Levers housemagazinesales2 historical perspective on the institution and Design @dods.co.uk the people in it. GISELA STUART MP EDITOR Charlotte O’Neill Tel 020 7593 5650 Matt Titley Subscriptions Max Dubiel Tel 020 8955 7007 Advertising [email protected] Contents Adam Kinlan Dods subs Bianc Nozombane PO Box 2068, Bushey 4 treasury masterplans Redesigning the Treasury Herts, WD23 3ZF 10 Comment Ryan Bourne, Matthew Oakley and Annual subscription £195 Two-year subscription £351 Mark Littlewood pass judgement on the effectiveness The House Magazine is published by Dods of the Treasury in 2012 The House Magazine is printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Company using only paper from FSC/PEFC suppliers. 16 How the Treasury works Who are the key www.magprint.co.uk players at the Treasury, and how do they work The publisher and editor are most grateful to the Clerk of the together? Paul Waugh reports Parliaments, the Clerk of the House and other senior officers of both Houses for the support and advice they readily give. 24 profiles The Treasury ministerial team ISSN 0309-0426 © Dods Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior written consent. 34 ORGANOGRAM EDITOR Gisela Stuart MP ASSOCIATE EDITORS Graham Brady MP, 36 insider’s story Catherine MacLeod, a former Charles Kennedy MP, Austin Mitchell MP, Treasury special adviser, on her time in the thick of it Priti Patel MP, Jenny Willott MP LIFE PRESIDENT Lord Cormack 40 interview Joshua Chambers interviews Alistair Dods is widely respected for producing highly authoritative and independent political publications. Its policy is to accept Darling about his time as Chancellor advertisements representing many sides of a debate from a variety of organisations. Dods takes no political stance on the messages 46 treasury tentacles How the influence of the contained within advertisements but requires that all content is in Chancellor and the Treasury is felt across Government strict accordance with the law. Dods reserves the right to refuse advertisements for good reason (for example if it is libellous, 50 influence James Dowling reveals the best ways defamatory, pornographic, socially unacceptable, insensitive or otherwise contrary to editorial policy). to make the Treasury listen to you Honorary Publisher Gerry Murray 54 consultations Certified 56 contacts circulation: 2341

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03 #11.indd 3 12/03/2013 13:16:35 Design

Treasury masterplans

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05-08 #11.indd 4 12/03/2013 13:23:09 In 1996 Foster and Partners were commissioned to redevelop the Treasury building at 1 Horse Guards Parade. The project was completed in 2002

ost office buildings dating The building combines a from the early part of the last sense of history with a century are not ideally suited contemporary working to modern working practices. environment However, many of them add toM the architectural wealth of our cities and can be restructured to meet contemporary needs. HM Treasury is such a building. Situated between Parliament Square and Horse Guards Parade, it was completed in 1917 and is Grade II listed. In refurbishing the building, the challenge was to transform a labyrinthine and frequently under-utilised set of spaces into an efficient and enjoyable working environment. The existing building has a roughly symmetrical plan, with two parts linked by a drum-like courtyard. It is punctuated by smaller courtyards and light wells, which were hitherto unused. In an echo of the strategy deployed in the Great Court, some of the courtyards have been capped December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 5

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05-08 #11.indd 7 12/03/2013 13:23:21 More than seven miles of partitions were removed to create open-plan offices

with translucent roofs to create five-storey spaces that variously house a library, a café, training rooms and an entrance atrium. The external courtyards have been landscaped to form recreational spaces for staff, while the central drum, hitherto used for parking, has been opened up as a new public space. Internally, more than seven miles of partitions were removed to create open-plan offices. This radical reorganisation has enabled the Treasury to be accommodated comfortably in the western half of the building, allowing the remainder to be occupied by other government departments. Significantly, the refurbished building has set new environmental standards in Whitehall. The reconfigured light wells help to ventilate the building naturally, forming thermal chimneys through which air from the office spaces is exhausted by vents at roof level. Fresh air is drawn into the building through the windows, which have also been upgraded to provide improved security. This natural ventilation cycle is assisted by ‘wind catchers’ mounted on the roof. Heating, lighting and communication systems have been similarly modernised, so that the building combines a sense of history with a contemporary working environment.

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05-08 #11.indd 8 12/03/2013 13:23:23 Proud to be working locally to deliver infrastructure, growth and efficiency – there is so much we can do together.

Judith Armitt Chief Executive [email protected]

L13-161Untitled-3.indd LPs ad.indd 1 1 12/03/201328/02/2013 13:35:35 09:50 comment Treasury Tested

Stand back and deliver in 2006 – a decision which now looks incredibly foolish, alongside claims we had seen ‘the end The Government needs of boom and bust’. But more importantly, to remember that it can’t assumptions have been used to set out fiscal control the economy, writes rules which cannot be known. The Treasury Ryan Bourne under the previous Government created a ‘Golden Rule’ that Labour would only borrow s the premier UK Government to invest across the business cycle, which of economic department, whose course presumes knowledge of the business stated aim is: “to raise the rate of cycle’s shape. High spending led to what in sustainable growth and achieve hindsight can be seen a large structural deficit. rising prosperity and a better And more recently the Government has set its qualityA of life with economic and employment fiscal mandate as a rolling, cyclically-adjusted opportunities for all,” Her Majesty’s Treasury target – which gives all the appearance of a has two broad roles: to attempt manage the direction of the economy and, more importantly in today’s climate, to control public spending. Government should The first of these is futile and can prove realise that its ability to damaging to our economic efficiency. control the economy Governments can’t control economies, but through manipulation of yet they continue to operate with what Hayek policy is very thin described as the ‘pretence of knowledge’. Macroeconomics at the Treasury level is still based around the concepts of the output gap tough rule but requires huge leaps of faith about and the sustainable growth rate, which implies expectations of events and knowledge of the governments can manipulate policy to keep to economy’s potential. Put simply, Government steady trend growth. Yet recent history clearly should realise that its ability to forecast and shows this to be a dangerous assumption. control the economy through manipulation of The last Government’s faith or hubris around policy is extremely thin. Specific actions and being in control of our economic destiny was policies rarely have a determinate outcome. exemplified by its decision to increase its Given the Coalition’s stated aim to forecast for the long-term growth rate to 2.75% significantly reduce the budget deficit in 10 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

10-15 #11.indd 10 12/03/2013 13:15:04 this Parliament, the Treasury does have a the department needs to provide strategic significant role, however, in controlling public leadership across Government on the economic expenditure. The last Government well and consequences of regulation and intervention. truly opened the spending taps. In response, the In contrast, the department seems to have current Government set out its fiscal mandate, a penchant for fiddly measures with the tax followed by a Comprehensive Spending system and clever tricks to put investment Review in 2010 where departments agreed projects off-balance sheet. The answer, all their budgets in bilateral negotiations with the too often, is a new Government scheme. This Treasury. On one level, the results have been ratchets up Government involvement in the fairly successful overall (compared to the aims, economy, creates special interest groups within anyway). Total managed expenditure was the tax system, and leads to obfuscation of expected to be £699.8bn in 2011/12, but came the public finances. As we saw in the 2012 in at £690.9bn. Overall spending targets are Budget, attempts to reverse some of these therefore being met – it’s the revenue side which favours to particular sectors in the tax system was grossly overestimated. But this masks some leads to shambolic policy making in political concerns about the way the Spending Review terms. The current Government is pulling was undertaken, which must be addressed for in the right direction on transparency, not the next one in 2013/14. The Review should least by delegating responsibility for it to the have been more strategic across departments Office for Budget Responsibility. But it has with raising the UK’s growth potential the key yet to really think strategically about some key objective, rather than the plethora of competing supply-side reforms which could have high objectives, like fairness, protecting the NHS and economic payoffs, like radically simplifying international aid. Heavier analysis should have our dysfunctional tax system. These economic been given to the scope of Government activity. considerations must not be side-lined by its And what was really needed alongside financial function. spending restraint was a fundamental review of supply-side measures. It’s difficult to disagree Ryan Bourne is Head of Economic Research at the with the Free Enterprise Group of MPs that Centre for Policy Studies

Horror headlines: The 2012 Budget attempted to reverse favours to particular sectors in the tax system, but this led to shambolic policy-making in political terms

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10-15 #11.indd 11 12/03/2013 13:15:08 Age old problems

The Treasury needs better paid and more experienced staff if it is to operate more effectively, argues Matthew Oakley

ince the onset of the financial crisis, Ministers, the media and commentators have regularly raised criticisms of the effectiveness of Civil Servants and the advice theyS give. The Treasury has not escaped this criticism. A recent Daily Telegraph article quotes a Treasury insider as saying ‘...when the great crash came, only the teenagers were left in the Treasury’, raising real questions over whether, with different staff, it might have done more to prepare for the financial crisis, or responded better when it hit. The same article states that some 50% of Treasury staff have turned over in the last two years, raising similar questions over whether the ‘omnishambles’ of Budget 2012 was, at least in part, the fault of inexperienced Civil Servants. These are not new questions. The Treasury has long been notorious for its relatively Turnover at the Treasury inexperienced officials with responsibilities beyond their years; reputation as ‘the is too high to be healthy for department that likes to say no’; and high policy formation staff turnover rates. I should confess here that with seven and a half years of experience as implementation of their own policy at risk by a Treasury economist, I fit into each of those looking to make a speedy mark on the policy categories. But having been ‘out’ for two agenda. years, I can now look back and give a view of However, some criticism is well placed. In the effectiveness of the Treasury as a policy particular, turnover at the Treasury is too high making institution. to be healthy for policy formation. Exits from The first thing to note is that much of the the Treasury run at around 25% a year and criticism levelled at the Civil Service and officials regularly move between different parts Treasury is often misguided. For instance, of the Treasury even if they do not leave. With officials have a responsibility to ensure that this in mind it is unsurprising that businesses an over-zealous new Minister does not put and stakeholders get frustrated with constantly 12 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

10-15 #11.indd 12 12/03/2013 13:15:10 departments) is that policy is often made in a relatively centralised manner. Even a renewed appetite for pilots and randomised control trials is likely to mean trials of policy created from within the Treasury policy teams. Evidence from abroad suggests that new policy ideas are often better developed closer to where the problems exist. A clear example is the 1990s welfare reform agenda in the United States, where policy varied greatly across the country. The evaluation and testing this allowed has been instrumental in our understanding of what works in welfare reform. A similar approach should be taken here. There are 173 local authorities and over 1,000 Jobcentres in England and Wales and over 24,000 schools in England. Instead of relying on a select few individuals at the Treasury and in other departments, we should be giving much more autonomy to each of these to test their own ideas and see what does, and does not, work. Such a loss of control of policy will George Osborne, the youngest Chancellor be a frightening thought for the Treasury. since the 1880s, leads a relatively Unless it is done in the right way, devolving inexperienced team at the Treasury policy responsibility risks a loosening of its tight grip on expenditure. But doing so could having to build new relationships and brief ignite innovation and lead to solutions and new officials. This high turnover could also savings that the Treasury would never have be a factor in the Treasury’s predisposition imagined. It could also lead to better outcomes. towards the word “no”. From experience, it is The Treasury invariably does a good job easier to say no than to engage constructively in difficult circumstances. To become more in a technical policy area that you are relatively effective it needs better paid, more experienced new to. Pay in the Treasury (based on starting officials and a programme of corporate salaries for economists) is 20% lower than counselling to enable it to loosen its control on equivalents in the Ministry of Defence and over policy. Ultimately turning the “Whitehall No- 10% lower than those of the Home Office and Men” into more experienced and supportive Department for Business Innovation and Skills. facilitators of policy innovation could really It has the third lowest salaries in Whitehall. improve policy making. This seems an obvious place to start if they want to try to retain more staff. Another area of concern (that could Matthew Oakley is Head of Economics equally be levelled at many other Whitehall & Social Policy at Policy Exchange December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 13

10-15 #11.indd 13 12/03/2013 13:15:12 Treasury talking points will continue to rise as a proportion of national income. In short, the Treasury’s two key Mark Littlewood says the targets are likely to be missed. Treasury has yet to play This points to a tendency for the Treasury to a central part in driving a act in a tactical rather than a strategic fashion. programme of reform One Whitehall commentator put it to me that both Officials and Ministers at HMT approach he Treasury is simultaneously the policy issues in the manner of bean-counting most feared, loathed and coveted accountants rather than as hard headed of Government departments. In economists. This criticism is a broad-brushed times of economic difficulty with caricature, of course, but it does tease out an fiscal consolidation as the Coalition’s underlying problem. In seeking to impose keyT policy priority, this is truer than ever. spending restraints, a salami-slicing approach But what is the scale of influence of the was adopted rather than asking more existential, Treasury and how effective is it proving to be, fundamental questions about which areas of particularly given it has to balance not merely public spending could be removed altogether. the competing demands of other Government It is notable, for example, that there has been departments but the distinct policy agendas of no radical shake-up of the overall structure of two governing political parties?

The Treasury acts more often as a brake on policy development rather than an engine for it

The starting point for any analysis needs to be the Comprehensive Spending Review, the supposedly radical centrepiece of Government policy and the glue which binds the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats together. In truth, the savings in public spending are nothing like as bold or as brave as the Chancellor indicated back in 2010 nor anything like as substantial as the media portray. With a following wind, George Osborne and Danny Alexander might see Government expenditure reduce by about 3% in real terms over the course of this Parliament, but on present trajectories, year-on-year budget deficits will continue way beyond 2015 and overall Government debt 14 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

10-15 #11.indd 14 12/03/2013 13:15:17 Government departments or a meaningful drive abolishing or retaining is a stark example of towards streamlining Whitehall functions. the uneasy, rather unsatisfactory compromises The experience of relatively successful endemic in a coalition government. fiscal consolidations in Canada and New Even with George Osborne acting as the Zealand shows that removing whole swathes roving and trusted political strategist for the of government programmes is the successful Prime Minister, the Treasury continues to route to getting spending under control. behave fairly defensively – acting more often Having the Chief Secretary issuing memos to as a brake on policy development rather than his fellow Cabinet Ministers asking them to an engine for it. The need for a new review calculate how they might save 5%, 10% or 20% of public spending in the next year provides of their budgets might lead to you reducing a window of opportunity for HMT. It is – the amount spent on paperclips, but such and will remain – the central powerhouse of savings are modest and rarely stick. all Whitehall departments, but has not yet At a political level, Osborne and Alexander unleashed its power to drive forward a truly have shown a communality of purpose – even impressive programme of reform. if not always an agreement on specific policy aims. The decision to reduce the top rate Mark Littlewood is Director General of the Institute of tax from 50p to 45p, rather than simply of Economic Affairs

David Cameron walks with Canadian PM Stephen Harper – Canada’s successful programme of fiscal austerity has encouraged George Osborne and the Treasury

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10-15 #11.indd 15 12/03/2013 13:15:23 inside the treasury Who are the people that make the Treasury work and turn policy into action? Paul Waugh takes a tour

ou have to ask why Gordon more of them. Not so much an ‘army’ of aides Brown needs this army of as a Burkean ‘little platoon’, Team Osborne is aides and spin doctors….” tight-knit unit. Way back in 2007, The biggest figure, in terms of both his George Osborne voiced importance and his 6ft height, is Rupert his“Y exasperation at yet another appointment Harrison. A former Eton head boy (where by the then Chancellor to his infamous inner he played in an indie band) and graduate of circle: the ‘Council of Economic Advisers’. Magdalen College, Oxford (the alma mater of The Council was a hothouse of young Brownite Osborne too), 34-year-old Harrison exudes talent, from Shriti Vadera to a certain Ed Balls a quiet calm and easy charm that reassures and Ed Miliband. those around him. Having arrived at Oxford Osborne made quite clear that things would to study physics, after a year he decided to be different once he was in power, and one of switch course to PPE. The key tutor who his first acts on taking over was to summarily allowed and encouraged him to switch was abolish the grouping that had helped define the Stewart Wood, one of Gordon Brown’s former Labour Treasury years. advisers and now a Shadow Minister and key But as a former special adviser himself, consigliere of Ed Miliband. Harrison repaid the Chancellor knew more than most the the faith shown in him by gaining both a first importance of ‘spads’ in translating party class degree and the top economics prize for his policy into Government action. His own team year. In an indication of Harrison’s likeability – utterly loyal, talented and young – reflects his and affability, he and Wood remain friends determination to get things done. despite crossing swords over the economy. And although he hasn’t quite gone back to After Oxford, he worked at the Institute for the numbers of the Brown days, Osborne has Fiscal Studies (IFS) for four years, his tenure even decided spads are so crucial that he needs coinciding with the directorship of Robert Chote (now head of the OBR). Osborne delegates a lot of responsibility The biggest figure, in to Harrison, who even deals directly with terms of both his importance ministers, but he knows that ultimately he’s and his 6ft height, is Rupert an adviser not a player. Balls often ended up filling in for Brown at meetings thanks to Harrison his boss’s ‘dysfunctional’ way of working. Harrison does spend a lot of one-on-one time with senior officials in various HMT ‘teams’, but it is always in order to prepare advice for the Chancellor. A further meeting will be held with Osborne for the final decision. 16 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

16-22 #11.indd 16 12/03/2013 13:13:37 GeorgianThe regime

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16-22 #11.indd 17 12/03/2013 13:13:39 Harrison does sit in all the crucial meetings and will give his political and economic overview before Osborne makes a big call. All senior Treasury officials (who pride themselves on HMT being the Rolls Royce of Whitehall) rate Harrison highly. Friends joke that Harrison’s nous even extends to taking out a mortgage at exactly the right time when interest rates first headed close to zero. He still has that great deal. Harrison is the man who, like Ed Balls before him, hosts the all-important post-Budget and post-Autumn Statement ‘huddle’ with the Lobby. With a mastery of detail, this is where he comes into his own and it is often a tour de force of policy and memory. This year’s took longer even than the Autumn Statement itself. At Osborne’s side since 2006, Harrison

Thea Rogers has been Just along from Harrison’s room in the hired to improve Osborne’s Treasury is the joint office of fellow advisers broadcast coverage Eleanor Shawcross and Ramesh Chhabra. The pair of them occupy what was Gordon Brown’s decided not to follow fellow Opposition office, but Osborne opted instead for a bigger adviser Matt Hancock into Parliament at the room with a large table for discussion with last election. But some still suspect he will end officials and aides. up in the House, and even without a seat he is Shawcross, who has just turned 30, leads still 50/1 with Ladbrokes to be the next Tory on financial services, business and growth. leader. Despite clear political differences with Known as ‘Ellie’ to friends, she read modern Vince Cable (a point underlined at Leveson), history at University College, Oxford, before the Business Secretary said: “I find him an going on to work for Boston Consulting extraordinarily bright guy, really great and easy Group. She was seconded to Boris Johnson’s to talk to. Having someone like that around is 2008 mayoral campaign and then appointed as not a problem.” an adviser to Osborne in Opposition. Hearty Another break with the Brownite past is that but stylish, she is a keen rower, sailor and Harrison is allowed to have a life outside the runner. The daughter of journalist William Treasury. His wife Jo Orpin, a contemporary Shawcross (and granddaughter of Nuremberg at Magdalen, is close friends with actress prosecutor Hartley Shawcross), she is Rosamund Pike (Pike was her maid of honour impeccably well-connected. Author Douglas at their wedding) and they socialise beyond Murray is an old friend, but her connections Westminster’s tight circle. expanded significantly this summer when 18 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

16-22 #11.indd 18 12/03/2013 13:13:40 she married Lord (Simon) Wolfson, the so close to the Chancellor they were snapped chief executive of Next. Wolfson, who was sharing iPod headphones during the infamous made a peer by David Cameron in 2010, ‘train ticket’ incident this year. But her shoes met Shawcross when he helped Osborne are being filled from January 2013 by Thea on economic policy in Opposition. He sold Rogers, Nick Robinson’s former BBC producer £3.8m of shares in Next to help fund their and a Millbank veteran despite her youth new family home. As a result of the wedding, (she’s just 30). Rogers is a former girlfriend of Shawcross is now formally Lady Wolfson, but ex-Labour minister James Purnell and worked nobody uses the title. for Tony Blair in 2005. In a move that echoes ‘Mesh’ Chhabra is the Chancellor’s press the appointment of Craig Oliver (whom she spokesman and well-known on the Lobby knows well from their BBC days) at No.10, she corridor. A former aide to David Davis, his has been hired to improve Osborne’s broadcast expertise was in Home Affairs but he was coverage and will work alongside Chhabra. snapped up by Osborne soon after DD quit as Rogers’ partner is Ameetpal Gill, the Prime Shadow Home Secretary. Minister’s former chief speechwriter and now Osborne’s long-time aide Poppy Mitchell- head of strategic communications, who is in Rose has left a big hole in the team after charge of the all-powerful ‘grid’ of Government announcing she was moving to Washington to events and announcements. be with boyfriend Ben Wright, BBC political The Chancellor’s newest hire is also correspondent and son of former Labour MP perhaps his most politically significant. Policy Tony Wright. Effectively deputy chief of Exchange chief Neil O’Brien will join staff as well as events fixer, Mitchell-Rose is the team from January as an extra special December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 19

16-22 #11.indd 19 12/03/2013 13:13:41 12/03/2013 13:13:46 The Chancellor’s study, complete Darling) very rarely had officials had rarely Darling) very at No.11 (to beover with him St pass was ‘agranted a Downing officialbig deal’, a former Labour says). linedwith dark wood panels and sortwith old Hansards, was the of brooding, intimidating place It has a Brown seemed to like. to the directly computer linked and this secure network Treasury’s burn thewas where Brown would midnight oil sometimes, finishing his Budget speech, his ministerial piled up in the boxes and papers ‘den’. With the OBR now signing off each Budget and Autumn Statement, there is no more midnight oil burned and Osborne to get his work down in prefers the daytime. But because he sees the Prime Minister so regularly, are his senior officials and advisers often working alongside him in his Whereas Blair and Brown would literally have a have literally would Brown closed door between No.10 don’t we No.11, and After a day’s work at his large large After a day’s work at his One Coalition insider says that Treasury office, with Danny office, with Danny Treasury and Greg Clark on the Alexander same corridor, the Chancellor will head back over to Downing Street for the second No.10 meeting of the day with the PM and DPM. At 5pm, he then heads back to to finish off his day’s the Treasury work. into walked when the team first No.11, they were struck by the lack of hot-desking space. Brown (and press team, Osborne normally Osborne normally press team, around 9.30am heads off at office. He will to his Treasury a shortcut sometimes take the Foreign through directly others Office courtyard, but on his officials) he (and normally back will use the Downing Street walk gate to get to HMT. “If we 90 at a sharpish pace, it takes seconds,” says one insider. December 2012 hancellor’s working day hancellor’s working C The Chancellor will start each After the morning meeting, One key area where George area One key from Gordon Brown Osborne differs just(and Alistair Darling) is in Downinghow he uses Number 11 Street. Whereas Brown would thespend most of his time at to Osborne’s closeness Treasury, he usesDavid Cameron means that muchhis Downing Street office more. working day at around 8.15am, when Rupert Harrison and other officials come over to No.11 as he starts prep for the 8.30am meeting chaired by thedaily Prime Minister. This is when the day’s priorities are sorted, the mused over, tactics newspapers finalised. which is attended by the No.10 THE NUMBER 11-TREASURY AXIS 11-TREASURY THE NUMBER a closer look takes Waugh Paul at the 20 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE |

xxxxxx 16-22 #11.indd 20 adviser, providing what one insider describes as “more No.11 office. Hotdesking is now PM has a detailed economic policy bandwidth”. With a the norm. question, he will go to her and strategic eye on 2015, O’Brien No.11 also has its own she’ll give an answer swiftly. is a shrewd analyst and radical living room, dining room and Lombardelli made her name thinker, with a keen interest small kitchen (and dedicated in Whitehall by standing up in social policy. Brought up in housekeeper) and the Chancellor to Jeremy Heywood under the Huddersfield, he impressed uses them for breakfasts and last Government, challenging many when he ran Open lunches with bankers, journalists his figures on welfare and Europe and is credited with and others. Foreign dignitaries, such drug dependency. But she is PX’s ‘blue collar conservatism’ as senior figures in the IMF, World even more famous for her ideas that are seen as the key Bank and visiting finance ministers, time as the Treasury’s head to winning key northern and would be formally entertained of welfare policy, dismissing midlands marginals. The there, as well as upstairs in the Iain Duncan Smith’s plans for Treasury may be worried State Room. welfare reform in 2010 as about his arrival but as long Osborne and wife Frances moved poorly costed and unworkable. as he acts collaboratively with their young family into No.11 a few The Work and Pensions officials, they will end up months after taking office. Frances Secretary was so outraged at liking him as he has the key sometimes uses the State Room to his treatment he told Osborne characteristic that garners host charitable events, such as the to get “that woman” to “show respect at HMT: he knows recent reception for theatre owners some respect”. his stuff. Another Oxford and directors. Still, Lombardelli is not the high-flyer with a first in PPE, “Geography matters,” one insider PM’s special adviser, she is many expect O’Brien to enter says. “Whereas Blair and Brown strictly a civil servant and won’t Parliament at some stage. would literally have a closed door be called on for any political It was Nick Clegg’s decision between No.10 and No.11, we issues. Blair famously had to hire extra spads this year don’t.” Derek Scott as his economic that prompted Osborne to Still, there is one more figure adviser (and Thatcher had Sir insist on more staff for his in the fine balance between Alan Budd), but the Treasury own team. Yet any tensions the Treasury, No.11 and No.10. was always distrustful of that exist with the Deputy Clare Lombardelli, another ex- interference. Nick Clegg does Prime Minister’s office are student of Stewart Wood’s at have his own economic spad, not replicated in the Treasury, Magdalen, is the Prime Minister’s Chris Saunders, and the Lib where Danny Alexander and private secretary with a brief Dems often find it odd that the his team work hand-in-glove to give economic advice. Both PM doesn’t have one of his own. with their Tory counterparts. Cameron and Osborne find her But with Osborne so close to Alexander fights the Lib impressive, but some in HMT him, Cameron feels that he is Dem corner when needed to, dislike her presence because lucky not to need a separate but always constructively and the PM trusts her so implicitly economic special adviser. “After is never publicly or privately that the Treasury hierarchy will all, that’s George’s job,” smiles disloyal to Osborne. His sometimes be bypassed. If the one official. own special advisers, December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 21

16-22 #11.indd 21 12/03/2013 13:13:52 Will de Peyer and Julia Church (formerly years in the HMT Strategy, Planning and Goldsworthy) follow the same principle. De Budget team. A former private secretary and Peyer, a former adviser to Vince Cable, worked speechwriter for Gordon Brown, Black helped in the City but has extensive party experience. edit the Wanless report on NHS spending. He keeps a low profile but is utterly trusted He was also student union leader at the LSE. by Alexander. Church, who got married last Black’s counterpart for Danny Alexander is summer, was Lib Dem MP for Falmouth and Anthony Wright, another experienced HMT Camborne from 2005. She handled the political civil servant rated by his boss for calmness angles needed for the media. Now on maternity under pressure. leave, her role is being covered by John Foster, What’s perhaps most noticeable at the who moves across from his role as one of Nick Treasury as a whole is how well liked Osborne Clegg’s SpAd army. is by the civil service. The senior officials are The recent Autumn Statement was seen as very loyal to their Chancellor and sometimes a return for form for the Tory and Lib Dem scathing about the PM. Some of this is due to Treasury teams. The key difference with the natural departmental rivalry, but Osborne is heavily criticised 2012 Budget was that this also respected for his clear, prompt decision time there were no ‘unauthorised’ leaks. Tories making. Unlike Brown, he has a life outside say that the big problem with the Budget was work and wants his officials to all have clear “not Danny, not even the DPM... it was the lines between work and non-work. Closer DPM’s office”. The Autumn Statement was, in age than Brown to many of the Treasury’s however, kept ‘tight’ by both sides. precocious staffers, the Chancellor often While ministers and spads occupy offices on shares jokes with officials, who like his sense the outer corridors of the Treasury, the press of humour and occasional swear-word. Itself office are based in the open-plan courtyards a hothouse of young talent, it’s perhaps no in the centre of the same floor. Head of wonder that the Treasury fits well with the Communications and the Chancellor’s official Osborne way of working. And thanks to his spokesman is Jonathan Black, another young inner circle, that loyalty is being repaid. Treasury star (he’s just 34) and known as ‘JB’. He was appointed in June 2011 after three Paul Waugh is Dods Parliamentary Editor in Chief

Neil O’Brien is expected to bring more ‘policy bandwidth’ after Julia Church, a special adviser to Danny Alexander, is now on joining as a special adviser from Policy Exchange maternity leave

22 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

16-22 #11.indd 22 12/03/2013 15:53:39 The Deloitte LLP public sector team is one of the largest and most experienced providers of professional, advisory and IT services to public sector clients in the UK.

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Deloitte2.indd 1 12/03/2013 13:34:17 s 2012 drew to a close, George Street and the Treasury. Osborne’s reputation was on the rise. From there a door profiles AThe Chancellor’s standing plummeted to Number 10 remains after a shambolic budget resulted in a permanently open, with string of U-turns and a barrage of negative Chancellor and Prime headlines, but December’s Autumn Minister maintaining a close Statement was seen as a return to form. Not working relationship and for the economy perhaps, which continues to friendship – the pair are register low signs of life – Osborne accepted godfathers to each other’s that the country’s debt won’t began to fall sons – that stretches back for until after 2015/16, while his target of more than a decade. eliminating the structural current deficit Gideon Osborne, as he was by the end of this Parliament has also been born, is the son of a baronet bumped. But his confident performance, and an heir to the Osborne aided by a catastrophic showing from & Little wallpaper fortune. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, seemed to Brought up in London and cheer both Tory MPs and impress the educated at St Paul’s and watching media. The message was gloomy. Oxford – where he joined “There are no miracle cures – just the hard the infamous hard-drinking work of dealing with our deficit and ensuring Bullingdon Club – he dabbled Britain wins the global race” Osborne told briefly in journalism before MPs. But the delivery was far more assured joining the Conservative than a few months previously. Research Department, where For Britain’s youngest Chancellor in over a he met Cameron. century, the lift comes at a key moment. The A special advisor to the post-Budget fallout saw Osborne attacked then Environment Secretary from opponents and Tory colleagues alike, Douglas Hogg, he then with the Chancellor accused of spending worked as a speechwriter to too much time thinking about political leader William Hague before strategy and letting his mind slip from the his election in Tatton in 2001. day job at the Treasury. So relentless was the By this stage he was married to Frances, the criticism that David Cameron, damaged by bestselling author daughter of former Tory association, was moved to defend his close Cabinet minister David Howell. Three years ally, insisting that Osborne would still be in later he was in the Shadow Cabinet. By 2005, his post by 2015. at 33, he had been promoted to Shadow For a man who favours a ‘submarine Chancellor, a job he combined with running strategy’ of political exposure, this was an Cameron’s leadership campaign. He famously uncomfortable extended stay on the surface spooked Gordon Brown into calling off a snap for Mr Osborne, a Chancellor who has let election in 2007 when he set out Tory plans to Ministers make the case for spending cuts cut inheritance tax, but as the global economic as he works behind the scenes, more usually crisis took hold Osborne struggled to make than not from his offices in 11 Downing himself heard, and by the 2010 election his 24 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

24-33 #11.indd 24 12/03/2013 13:24:17 George Osborne Chancellor Words: Sam Macrory

popularity in the country was falling – a factor liberal outlook than the PM – “Successful which accounted for Osborne’s low profile on political parties reflect the modern societies the campaign trail. they aspire to lead,” Osborne argues – while Today, after the blip of the Budget, shares his fiscal austerity appeals to the right wing of in Osborne’s political future are worth the party. investing in. A network of allies are dotted With the Australian strategist Lynton across the Government (see page 46), while Crosby brought in to over see the 2015 the Chancellor entertains frequently at election campaign, Osborne can now focus all Dorneywood, his country residence, building his attentions on the economy. His adherence up a web of supporters in the process. to austerity has been steadfast. If it pays off, Modernisers argue that Osborne’s urban then the future will be brighter for both the upbringing has given him a more socially country and the Chancellor. December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 25

24-33 #11.indd 25 12/03/2013 13:24:21 flame-haired Scot whose youthful face belies his 40 years, Danny Alexander’s first Government post was a role which, in the run up to the 2010 Election, he wantedA to abolish. However, his time a Secretary of State for Scotland did not last for long. With David Laws resigning from the Government after just 18 days, Alexander was propelled into the Chief Secretary to the Treasury role. The day job sees Alexander act as the second most powerful man in the Treasury behind George Osborne – with Laws, until his return to Government, advising behind the scenes – but his responsibilities go beyond a close working relationship with the Chancellor: Alexander is a member of the ‘quad’ alongside Osborne, Nick Clegg and David Cameron, and plays a part in thrashing out all decisions on Coalition policy. Tense negotiations are nothing new for the MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey. As Nick Clegg’s chief of staff since 2007, Alexander had been a key player in creating the Lib Dems’ manifesto and then in negotiating the terms of his party’s Coalition with the Conservatives. Yet before becoming an MP in 2005, he had never stood for an elected office. Alexander grew up on the remote Hebridean island of Colonsay. It was a tight-knit community: his father was a potter who doubled up as a fireman and deputy pier master and Alexander’s primary school had just 15 other pupils. When his family moved to the mainland he attended Lochaber High School in Fort William, which also boasts MPs Charles Kennedy and Fiona O’Donnell among its Parliamentary alumni. His undergraduate years were political – while Words: Jess Bowie studying for Oxford’s PPE course, he was 26 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

24-33 #11.indd 26 12/03/2013 13:24:24 president of the university politics society and took a summer job helping the Freedom of Information Campaign. Danny After graduating he kept up his political pursuits. A spell as the Lib Dems’ press officer Alexander in Scotland was followed by Chief Secretary a sting as Communications Director for the pressure work cleaning up mess others leave behind”. group European Movement Recently he has helped launched a beer called and then the same role for its ‘Ginger Rodent’ in his constituency. sister organisation Britain in Back at the Treasury, Alexander is seen Europe. During this time he as highly loyal ally of George Osborne and met his wife, the journalist perhaps more ‘on message’ than many local Rebecca Hoar. party members would like. Tories, on the Having established other hand, have taken a shine to him – at a himself in pro-Europe recent lunch for the press one noted that you political circles, his decision would never guess that Alexander could be to become Director of a Lib Dem. He has also angered some of his Communications for the colleagues when he seemed to commit the Cairngorms National Park in Lib Dems to implementing spending cuts 2004 has been described as after the next General Election, while party a “mystifying career move”. members felt that Alexander had failed to But friends of the future pull his weight in negotiations running up Treasury Minister suspect it to December’s Autumn Statement. He may was all part of a game-plan be hold one of the most influential posts in to build up his profile in the Government, but Alexander, like Clegg, Inverness constituency he is bound up at the heart of the Con-Lib intended to fight: according Coalition. What that means for his future, to those who have worked may not be so positive. for him, Alexander is highly ambitious. He also has a sense of humour: in response to Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman’s notorious ‘ginger rodent’ taunt, Alexander said he was proud of his colouring and that “rodents do valuable December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 27

24-33 #11.indd 27 12/03/2013 13:24:26 David

GaukeExchequer Secretary

Words: Jess Bowie 28 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

24-33 #11.indd 28 12/03/2013 13:24:31 ho the heck does the wife (a tax expert, she provides an occasional previously unheard-of source of policy advice at home) and their David Gauke think three sons now live in Chorleywood, he he is?” asked Richard is still a supporter of his old football team and Judy in a Daily Ipswich Town. “WExpress column this summer. Tory high command and those in the The TV presenters were responding to the Department see him as ‘a safe pair of hands’. Exchequer Secretary’s controversial claim that Gauke was deployed across the airwaves paying tradesmen cash in hand was morally on firefighting duty as the media rounded wrong. Despite the uproar, Gauke stands by on the omnishambolic Budget earlier this his point, saying he doesn’t think it’s right to year, but his reward may not be one of his “try to negotiate a discount if you’re helping choosing. While former Treasury colleagues somebody evade paying taxes”. have moved on, Gauke remains in post at The morality of financial choices is the Treasury where George Osborne and something that Gauke feels strongly about: Danny Alexander remain firmly front of in a recent piece for The Times he described house. As such, and as Richard and Judy’s people who use a company to buy a house in comment suggests, the public perception of which they intend to live (thus avoiding stamp the Exchequer Secretary remains hazy. But it’s duty) as “morally repugnant”. not for lack of trying. Following the cash-in- The MP for South West Hertfordshire hand comments, he recently trod on a few has certainly had the time and experience to toes when discussing child benefit cuts for fine-tune his views on tax. After studying Law higher earners – accusing some middle-class at Oxford, Gauke became a solicitor. In 1999 parents of “fiscal Nimbyism”. Headlines were he joined the law firm Macfarlanes, where he made – and Gauke was named Liberal hero of specialised in financial services regulation. the week by one left-leaning think tank – but Following his election to Parliament in 2005 the Treasury’s Number 3 remains relatively and a stint on the Procedure Committee, unknown. Gauke became a member of the prestigious However, with the new arrangements Treasury Committee. Before long he was for Child Benefit taking effect in the New asked by David Cameron to shadow his Year, and further cuts to the welfare budget current post, which he duly did for three announced in the Autumn Statement, we are years before being handed the corresponding likely to see a lot more of David Gauke. The Government post after the 2010 Election. Treasury will be hoping he stays put. On entering the Treasury, Gauke chose to decorate his office with paintings of former reforming Chancellors, along with his very own ‘Tax Personality of the Year’ trophy (an accolade Gauke himself says is “perhaps oxymoronic”). Far removed from the popular idea of the Tory toff, the dry-humoured Gauke attended a state school in Ipswich. Although he, his December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 29

24-33 #11.indd 29 12/03/2013 13:24:33 Greg

ClarkFinancial Secretary

reg Clark is one of the more Cabinet Office, then at the unlikely Conservative ministers. Department for Energy and Comprehensive school- Climate Change. educated in Middlesbrough Despite his Shadow (though with no trace of a Secretary post, Clark missed TeessideG accent today), Clark’s first foray out on the front bench when into politics was as a member of David the Coalition came into being, Owen’s Social Democrat Party. instead being ushered into He gained an Economics degree from a ministerial position at the Cambridge before completing a doctorate DCLG. As expected, Clark at the London School of Economics, but made his mark and, to the while that may seem obvious training for the disgust of the Daily Mail Treasury Clark’s career has included stints and Simon Jenkins of the outside Westminster. National Trust, proposed A business consultant and then a senior a wide-reaching relaxation BBC policy adviser, Clark kept his attention of planning laws. But the on politics by working as Special Adviser unfailingly polite minister to Trade and Industry Secretary, Ian knew every last comma of Lang during the dying days of the Major his planning proposals, and Government. Clark subsequently became was seen as a diplomatic Director of Policy for the Conservative Party, and dependable envoy for serving under William Hague, Iain Duncan the Government. Don’t Smith and Michael Howard. Many insiders mention elected mayors, have pointed to Clark’s initiatives and ideas however: Clark was a major laying the foundations for what we now know player in the drawing up as the ‘Big Society’. of plans which, in the end, As with many backroom policy brains, were mostly rejected by the Clark wanted to go front of house and so, electorate. in 2005, succeeded Archie Norman in the However, no blame was safe Conservative seat of Tunbridge Wells. attached to Clark, with the Quickly promoted, he would go on to shadow Prime Minister rewarding Ed Miliband for three years – first at the his enterprise and innovation 30 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

24-33 #11.indd 30 12/03/2013 13:24:36 with a promotion to the role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Described as “an economically liberal Conservative with a social conscience”, he sounds very much like the type of politician which many believe Cameron instinctively wants to be – despite the Mail’s accusations of ‘ideological baggage’ remaining with Clark from his SDP days. However, as a columnist for ConservativeHome, Clark had a direct line to Tory grassroots opinion, while his stinging attack on the EU’s proposal for a large increase in the contributions from member states, will please the party’s large Eurosceptic wing. “It is frankly breathtaking that… the [EU] Commission does not practice what it preaches by proposing reductions, but instead asks for a 6.8% increase in this budget over last year,” Clark recently argued, sounding as true blue as any Tory could wish for.

Words: Joseph Briggs December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 31

24-33 #11.indd 31 12/03/2013 13:24:38 Osborne. While a PPS is often seen as being a ministerial bag carrier, Javid is reported to have Sajid told Osborne to drop planned announcements on charities and pensions – policies later derided as taxes on charities and grannies. The outspokenness did him no harm, and in September Javid was promoted once more, this time to become Economic Secretary to JavidEconomic Secretary the Treasury, where he will take a close look at RBS and Lloyds, the taxpayer-owned banks. career in investment banking gave “Politicians should have nothing to do with Sajid Javid a head start over most running commercial banks” is his instinct, and of his fellow 2010 intake with he is said to have impressed Treasury Civil ambitions to join the Treasury Servants with his quick mastery of his brief. team. Javid’s rise is unlikely to slow down: he’s been AThe son of Pakistani-born bus driver, Javid ranked the third most-likely new MP to become grew up on Stapleton Road in Bristol, a location Prime Minister, and has also been included in dubbed as ‘Britain’s most dangerous street’ a Times list of the ‘Top 100 Global People to because of the high number of drug-related Watch in 2012’and a Telegraph list of the ‘Top shootings. He left for Exeter University in 100 Most Influential Figures from the Right’. 1988, and joined the Conservatives while Despite once claiming that he only wanted studying for a degree in Politics and Economics. to be “the Minister for Bromsgrove”, it is At university he mixed in circles which unlikely that a person of Javid’s talent would included future Tory MP Robert Halfon and leave such a successful career in banking for a the influentialConservativeHome editor Tim quiet life in a safe Conservative seat. Having Montgomerie, and, as a student politician, he become a Junior Treasury Minister after two would be interviewed by Newsnight presenter and a half years, more is likely to follow. Jeremy Paxman when just 20 years old. After graduating he embarked on a career in banking, becoming Chase Manhattan’s youngest ever vice-President at the age of 25 and subsequently being headhunted by Deutschebank to become a senior managing director. Taking over the Bromsgrove seat vacated by Julie Kirkbride, Javid has been promoted three times in two and a half years since he entered the Commons as the first Muslim Tory MP. The first rung of the ministerial ladder came just six months after his election, with Javid named as PPS to then-Education Minister John Hayes. A year later he switched to the Treasury after being made PPS to Chancellor George Words: Joseph Briggs 32 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

24-33 #11.indd 32 12/03/2013 13:24:39 Lord Deighton Commercial Secretary

ith Lord Sassoon returning to “The job I have accepted is a role in the the private sector, the newest Treasury to try and get the economy moving arrival at the Treasury is his with a specific focus on infrastructure projects. replacement Paul Deighton. Given what we have done here it is a natural The appointment of home for me,” Deighton has said. “What WDeighton, now elevated to the House of we have been able to do here is get good Lords, was seen as something of a coup for collaboration between the public and private the Government. Fresh from his pivotal role sector and that is what we hope to do in the in delivering a universally praised Olympic wider economy.” and Paralympic Games for London as the Deighton will chair a committee looking Chief Executive for the London Organising into the Government’s National Infrastructure Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Plan, assessing Whitehall’s ability to deliver on Games (LOCOG), Deighton is hot property. major infrastructure projects. Punches won’t Before taking on his Olympics challenge, be pulled. As LOCOG chief he admitted that Cambridge-educated Deighton enjoyed a he was often “rather impatient with everybody successful career in banking, spending 22 involved in the project, otherwise we would not years with Goldman Sachs and amassing a have done the job”. And having come under fortune of more than £100m. A self-confessed fire for the ticket allocation and G4S shambles, sports nut, Arsenal fan Deighton saw the Deighton is well-prepared for ministerial LOCOG job advertised in the Economist and scraps to come. decided that it was the only role he would consider leaving his high-rolling banking career for. After the summer highs, he has moved on. Deighton took up his role in January, with post- Games duties taking up the remainder of 2012, but after moving into his Horse Guards Parade offices the job began at once. Words: Sam Macrory December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 33

24-33 #11.indd 33 12/03/2013 16:00:53 organogram TreasuryThe

Special Adviser Julia Church* Ministerial Support Beth Russell

Special Adviser Will De Peyer

Press Secretary Anthony Wright Permanent Secretary Sir Nicholas Macpherson

Second Permanent Secretary Head of Communications Tom Scholar Jonathan Black

Second Permanent Secretary Special Adviser John Kingman (media) Ramesh Chhabra

34 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

34-35 organogram V2.indd 34 12/03/2013 15:56:43 Economic Secretary Sajid Javid Financial Secretary Greg Clark Exchequer Secretary David Gauke Chief Secretary Danny Alexander Commercial Secretary Lord Deighton

Special Adviser Thea Rogers

Chancellor Special Adviser (financial George Osborne services, business and growth) Eleanor Shawcross

Chief of Staff Special Adviser Rupert Harrison Neil O’Brien *John Foster Covering for maternity leave

december 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 35

34-35 organogram V2.indd 35 12/03/2013 15:56:44 Calm before the storm: when Alistair Darling became Chancellor one journalist asked him if he was looking forward to running a department with no problems and an economy running Other like clockwork... side ofthe fence

After two decades in political troubleshooting role in various departments, journalism Catherine MacLeod it would be a change to go into a department moved to become a special with no problems and an economy running like adviser at the Treasury clockwork. The role of the special adviser is ill defined s a political journalist, based in and by necessity cannot be anything else. I was Westminster for nearly 20 years, I bound by civil service rules and paid from the thought I had a good understanding public purse and I never forgot I was appointed of how Government worked. Now, purely through patronage. I had no authority in having spent three years embedded my own right. inA the Treasury, during arguably the worst Much rubbish is talked about the reach economic crisis for 100 years, I realise I was an and influence of special advisers. My role was informed spectator more than an expert. part adviser, part agony aunt, and sometimes Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the a conduit between the Chancellor and senior Exchequer, asked me to be his special adviser figures in business and financial services and in the autumn of 2007. At the time I was The wider political circles. Herald’s political editor. It would be reasonable Essentially special advisers give civil servants to expect I knew to what I was signing up. The political cover. While the civil servants should truth of the matter is I had no idea. be impartial but not independent – they’re there In mitigation I can say that when Mr Darling to deliver Government policy, whatever it is – went into the Treasury a highly respected special advisers can help influence policy from a newspaper editor put it to him that, after his political perspective. 36 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

36-39 #11.indd 36 12/03/2013 13:25:55 And although the role may be controversial they offer important ballast. As politicians and civil servants increasingly tend to be drawn from the same stable, people from different walks of life can only enhance the policy process. It often struck me how little the Westminster and Whitehall establishment appreciated the merits of those who came from different backgrounds. My role in the Treasury involved working alongside the Treasury press office to explain what was happening. It was difficult. Too many people did not understand the relationship between banks and the wider economy so the Government sometimes stood charged with saving bankers rather than banks. And four years down the road there’s still, perhaps understandably, more political heat generated by bankers’ bonuses than banking reforms. My role in the press operation was to convey a sense of the Chancellor’s political and personal

Had the Chancellor been ambivalent about me, civil servants would have followed his lead

position. The complicated, technical stuff I left to the press office. They were tremendous, hard working and clever. Sometimes there was tension between us but never once did we fail to overcome it. And that was particularly important in 2008 when Mr. Darling gave the now infamous interview to The Guardian. More than any other interview it helped define the Chancellor’s position. He said what he thought, it was reported accurately, and he didn’t resile from a word of it. That Too many people did not understand the relationship he’d said the same thing in The Times two between banks and the wider economy, says Catherine weeks earlier appeared to be neither here nor Macleod, meaning that the Government sometimes stood charged with saving bankers rather than banks there. Timing is all. December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 37

36-39 #11.indd 37 12/03/2013 13:25:58 Top: Alistair Darling talks to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on a summit in Beijing in 2008. A Chinese official wanted to know whether the Chancellor dyed his eyebrows. Bottom: Alistair Darling talks with Gordon Brown and Hank Paulson, the US Treasurer, in the garden at No. 10 38 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

36-39 #11.indd 38 12/03/2013 13:26:01 I was the Chancellor’s eyes and ears in the I would have been a department and on the street. He trusted me to tell him what was happening and he told me better political journalist if I’d what he wanted to reach the public domain understood more clearly how both within and without the department. Government worked Good relationships with civil servants were vital. They knew what was going on and let adviser. On my first day in the Treasury Mr you know as much or as little as they deemed Darling signalled that he wanted me in the fit. It was fascinating to have a ring-side seat, room. As I prepared to leave a meeting where watching them assess the political power there were more people than chairs, he made it struggles. clear I should stay put. Had the Chancellor been Any ministerial role is difficult and ambivalent about me, civil servants would have particularly so in the eye of an economic storm. followed his lead. Ministers work under tremendous pressure Civil servants are powerful. They’ve seen and it is a lonely job: their colleagues share the Ministers and Governments come and go and glory when policy goes well but they’re on their just occasionally they let us know policy might own when times are tough. Times were tough be better left to them. They, of course, never throughout my time in the Treasury. had to consider the needs of voters or criticism Part of my job was to help prepare Mr. of constituents. Darling for meetings with journalists. He took It was a tremendous privilege to be a special these relationships seriously, not least because adviser in the Treasury. As the Chancellor he is married to Margaret Vaughan, who now battled to bolster the UK economy I travelled refers to herself as a ‘recovering journalist’. with him all over the world: dined at high tables It helped hugely that I liked most of the in Beijing, breakfasted with Hank Paulson, then journalists with whom we dealt, and it mattered the US Treasurer, (whose wife told him to give enormously that the Chancellor understood that back his Wimbledon tickets and come home to the journalists had a job to do. look after the grandchildren) and saw close up We understood how important it was the world’s movers and shakers in Davos. to get the message across. Not spin, but Many of the meetings with top businessmen communication. Something was happening, and financiers were ‘secret’. More than once I people needed to know. The Chancellor observed that was probably just as well. If not, understood, thankfully, the value of giving a we might be facing a revolution. straight answer. Trust and mutual respect grew On a more personal note, I would have been from that, and came to define his reputation, a better political journalist if I’d understood even in the darkest times. The questions put more clearly how Government worked. I made to us were usually tough, sometimes bizarre: tremendous friends, and saw first hand the once, at a high profile international summit, a commitment of politicians and civil servants, Chinese official wanted to know whether the working together to try to make the world a Chancellor dyed his eyebrows. Looking at the better place. sea of black heads in his own delegation, I think I understood his interest. Catherine MacLeod was special adviser to I was fortunate in my time as a special Alistair Darling from 2007 to 2010 December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 39

36-39 #11.indd 39 12/03/2013 13:26:01 Alist Joshua Chambers finds that former Chancellor Alistair Darling remains determined a ir D to voice awkward truths

a n the foyer of Portcullis House there rling is little sign of the MPs who work in the offices upstairs. Instead, flustered flunkies hurry in and out, apologising to the groups of people who have Ibeen kept waiting to meet their elected representatives. Then one MP does appear, and his shock of white hair and dark eyebrows are instantly recognisable. Unlike many of his peers, former chancellor Alistair Darling comes in to meet his guests himself and guides the photographer and myself back up to his office. The trappings of Government have disappeared: his office is strangely sparse and uncluttered. There are no support staff and few personal possessions, apart from a couple of framed Treasury bills, a large English dictionary and a copy of Tony Blair’s autobiography.

Minister on the Move

Alistair Darling’s first Government posting was as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, where he stayed from 1997 to 1998. Then, when Harriet Harman and Frank Field were there. “Gordon had preferred to operate sacked as Secretary of State and Minister through his special advisers,” he says – so for Social Security, he took over at the officials were wary of even speaking to the department and quickly built a reputation as new chancellor. “I just found it odd that a safe pair of hands. people seemed to be so reticent,” he recalls. After four years without any major “It’s unusual to have any minister for ten hiccups, Darling was moved to the years, and [under Brown] they had worked Department for Transport, later moving to in a different way. They were more used to the Treasury when Gordon Brown became sitting down with Ed Balls or whoever was Prime Minister. He admits that he was the interface.” The ministerial team had also surprised at the culture of civil servants worked differently: “They had their own 40 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

40-45 #11.indd 40 12/03/2013 13:26:48 Man intheknow responsibilities, but they didn’t operate so Because for ten years much as a team.” there had been no problems at all, the number of people Brown at Ten working on financial stability When Brown moved across to Number 10 was much reduced in 2007, the heart of Government creaked at the strain of his unorthodox working style. “There was just so much going wrong. Meetings were not being held when they should have been, decisions were December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 41

40-45 #11.indd 41 12/03/2013 13:26:50 not being taken when they should have been, and that was just all very difficult,” Darling says. “There were real problems in the Number 10 operation, and I think Peter [Mandelson] did a lot. What it badly needed was a chief executive – to some extent There was just so much Jeremy [Heywood] was doing this as a civil servant, but he was Permanent Secretary and going wrong. Meetings were also doing various other things. [Brown] just not being held when they needed someone to bring order to the whole should have been thing and Peter did that.” By 2008 it wasn’t just Brown’s Was he confident at the time that the working methods causing difficulties: the Government’s recapitalisation plan would Government was tackling the worst financial work? “You couldn’t be confident, because crisis since the Great Depression of the we were in such a volatile period,” he replies. 1930s. The first signs came in 2007 when, “I defy anyone to stand up and say they only months after Darling had joined the knew it was all going to work. But we had Treasury, it had to deal with the first run on a situation where we knew that, slowly but a British bank in 150 years. surely, HBOS, RBS were just running out “The difficulty was that because for of money. After [the collapse of US bank] ten years there had been no problems Lehmans, the same thing was happening in at all, the number of people working on America, it was happening in continental financial stability was much reduced,” he Europe… We had no guarantee that it was remembers. “We basically had to go around going to work but what I did know was that, the department and get the brightest and the if we didn’t do something drastic, then we best to do nothing else.” were going to face a total collapse.” Northern Rock was soon nationalised, Darling is confident that UK banks and the move changed the culture of are now in a strong position because of the Treasury from “being basically a his actions. “Our banks are much better department that polices other departments capitalised and there was an honest cleaning from one step removed, to a big delivery out of the cellars two years ago,” he says. department”. A year down the line, the Unfortunately, he adds, “that has not government had to step in to rescue and happened in most European banks.” recapitalise most of the UK’s big banks.

42 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

40-45 #11.indd 42 12/03/2013 16:03:13 Domestic doubts

However, Darling still harbours major concerns about the prospects of the domestic economy. “If we don’t do something, we’re in a situation where we’re going to see the economy continue to stagnate,” he says. “One of the big political challenges for the present Government is that in the past, people have been through hard times but you could always say that while it may be hard for the next couple of years, things will get better.” This time, Darling warns that without a change of economic policy, “it’s not going to get better for five or ten years. That will put a massive political pressure on this Government, which is why I’m pretty sure they will change tack – despite what they say about no plan B.” In the meantime, as the economy faces continuing difficulties Darling warns of another domestic problem: the loss of talented public sector workers to the private sector. “The thing I worry about at the moment is that in departments like the Treasury, the risk is that they lose their best people, who can go the City, be paid more and be told: ‘Look, there are opportunities here.’ What the Government is saying to the civil service is, effectively, there’s a pay freeze for this Parliament and soon you may not have a job. A lot of people in the Treasury who are in their 20s and 30s face the prospect that they’re never going to be able to buy a house in London or start a family.”

December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 43

40-45 #11.indd 43 12/03/2013 13:26:52 44 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

40-45 #11.indd 44 12/03/2013 13:26:54 Further, “if you start losing key people seeing the results.” then your intellectual ability to respond is Darling has been calm throughout then impaired, and that is a real problem. the interview. He can be: he is no longer It’s something that permanent secretaries responsible for running the British economy. and the head of the civil service need to be However, in his self-contained, understated conscious of,” he warns. “I’m not arguing manner, he is clearly frustrated at the that you can’t operate with less people; you present global situation. just need to make sure that you’ve got the “We need to do whatever is necessary right people.” to get our economies to grow” he argues. “We need to make sure our banks are recapitalised, rather than just talking about European turmoil it. And we need to get Europe to sort out its problems. These things all need to be done Looking overseas, Darling is troubled by together, and we need to be moving in the the global economic outlook and sees little same direction. We also need to persuade action being taken to change western growth countries like China that they need to be part prospects. “We’re never going to get out of of the long-term solution, because the world the mess that we’re in unless there’s some is so imbalanced; it’s not sustainable.” international solidarity,” he says. “The Calmly, quietly, he concludes: “There’s no phrase: ‘We’re all in this together’ – which is time to be lost.” increasingly hollow here, I’m afraid – is very true when applied to the international scene. But there’s not much sign of the leadership that we need.” Ultimately, Darling thinks that the West’s economic frailty and political weakness are allowing the centre of the world economy to shift rapidly eastwards. “The big risk is that the rest of the world is moving on,” he comments. “The central economic gravity was always moving to the East. This is going to speed it up – and we will pay a heavy price for it.” However, “rather than be defeatist, it is well worth the present government re- Joshua Chambers is deputy and online editor of Civil reading some of Keynes’ writing from the Service World 1930s. Some of the things he was saying then are as good today: government can An extended version of this interview first make a difference. But it does mean a policy appeared in Civil Service World in October 2011. change”. And that change will have to come Please see www.civilserviceworld.com for more fast: “We don’t have time. There’s a long Civil Service lead-in time between doing something and WORLD December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 45

40-45 #11.indd 45 12/03/2013 16:36:59 tentacles: MPs Treasury Tentacles:The MPs Words: Sam Macrory

Mark Francois Now in his dream job at the Ministry of Defence, Former colleagues of George Osborne Francois is a graduate of the Shadow Treasury are dotted across the Government – team. The one time TA soldier entered Parliament and remain close to the Chancellor in 2001, worked as the Shadow Paymaster General for two years’ of Osborne’s tenure as Shadow Chancellor before being asked to shadow the European brief. Interestingly the promotion followed Graham Brady’s resignation after a row over grammar schools: Brady was replaced by Francois, who in turn was succeeded by David Gauke, now a minister in the Treasury.

Matt Hancock It’s a case of two-for-the-price-of-one with Hancock, who has been asked to juggle Mark Hoban ministerial responsibilities at the DfE and George Osborne’s spats with Iain Duncan BIS. Sharp, self-confident, supremely well- Smith over cuts to the welfare budget are connected, Hancock was spotted at the well documented. The Work and Pensions Bank of England – where he started on the Secretary’s every move will now be closely same day as Shadow Chief Secretary Rachel watched by Mark Hoban, who moved from Reeves – by Osborne, who recruited him to the Treasury to the DWP at the reshuffle. his Shadow Treasury team. By the time of Hoban has worked alongside Osborne since the 2010 election Hancock was working as 2005 as first Shadow Financial Secretary then Osborne’s Chief-of-Staff. Financial Secretary.

46 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

46-49 #11 tentacles.indd 46 12/03/2013 13:28:27 Claire Perry Former banker Perry met Osborne in a “completely random” way at a Tory Party gathering, impressed him with a two minute elevator speech and was asked to get in touch with his office. Six months voluntary policy advice followed, before Perry officially joined the Osborne team before the election. Now a PPS to Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, Perry is another Osborne-ista on the up. Philip Hammond Hammond worked closely with Osborne in opposition as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. It was the job he wanted in Government, only to see Lib Dem Danny Alexander handed the key role. Hammond has sinced moved from Transport to Defence Secretary and is frequently named as a would-be Chancellor should Osborne’s own occupation of Number 11 unexpectedly end early.

Greg Hands Another alumnus of the Shadow Treasury Team, Hands serves as Osborne’s representative in the Government Whips Office. His Government career started as Osborne’s PPS in the Treasury, while the mini-reshuffle Jesse Norman which followed Liam Fox’s resignation saw Don’t be fooled by Norman’s present persona Hands relocated to the Whips team, where his non grata status following his mastery of the high entry-level appointment as the Treasury backbench Tory uprising against Lords reform. Whip raised plenty of eyebrows. One of the brightest minds in Parliament, Norman is languishing on the backbenches as a result of his rebel command but as an adviser to George Osborne before the election the ex- banker and author of Compassionate Economics remains highly thought of by the Chancellor.

December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 47

46-49 #11 tentacles.indd 47 12/03/2013 13:28:31 Treasury Civil Tentacles:Servants Words: Paul Waugh

Michael Ellam Brown’s former Head of Comms is back after a spell at UKFI and is the Director General, International and EU. Beth Russell (former head of Brown’s private office) is Deputy Director for Ministerial Support.

What has been striking under the Coalition is just how many of Gordon Brown’s Treasury staffers are still on board – and often in places outside the Treasury. If George Osborne has his political ‘tentacles’ across Whitehall, so too does the Treasury

itself. Within HMT, Osborne has kept faith with the top team from Labour’s years, many of whom sacrificed years of their lives for Brown and were trusted as the core of his team.

Jon Cunliffe Cunliffe was relied on by Brown for his international finance expertise and was so trusted that the former PM made him his special adviser on the EU. Cunliffe also impressed David Jonathan Black Cameron who made him Britain’s Permanent A Brown speechwriter and editor of the Representative to the EU in January 2012. Wanless report on NHS spending, is Head of Comms and another Deputy Director.

48 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

46-49 #11 tentacles.indd 48 12/03/2013 13:28:35 Sir Nick Macpherson James Bowler A pivotal figure who Another key Brown official, is replaced Gus O’Donnell Director of Strategy, Planning and Chris Martin when he left No. 11 to Budget at the Treasury, having Yet another Brown become Cabinet Secretary, been David Cameron’s Principal protégé, Chris Martin, Macpherson remains as Private Secretary. Mark Bowman, is now Cameron’s Permanent Secretary. He Brown’s former No. 1 in his private current Principal Private is credited with some key office, is a Director General at DfID. Secretary. Martin was Brownite phrases including briefly Director of ‘progressive universalism’. Communications at the Treasury too.

Paul Kissack John Kingman Now Director of Children Another former Head of Policy at DfE. At just 29, he Comms for Brown and the was Head of Communications man who oversaw the bank at the Treasury under bailout of 2008, is back as Brown, having served as the Second Permanent Secretary. former Chancellor’s Private Secretary.

The other Second Permanent Secretary Steve Field’s replacement as Prime is Tom Scholar, Brown’s favourite civil Minister’s Official Spokesman from servant and his Downing Street chief January 2013 will be super-smart of staff until he was replaced in 2008. Jean-Christophe Gray. Gray was Brown’s Scholar then went to Washington Private Secretary (his widely-used to be the UK’s Executive Director at nickname of ‘JC’ is said to have the IMF. Proving how the Treasury come about because Brown couldn’t wheels keep turning, that post is being pronounce his full French forename) taken up in the New Year by Steve and then Director of Communications at Field, David Cameron’s shrewd and the Treasury. Given HMT’s reputation as media-savvy Official Spokesman since a hothouse for world-class officials and 2010. Field was yet another Treasury the dominance of the economy as the high-flyer and worked as Director of big political issue, it’s no surprise that Communications at HMT. David Cameron once again plumped for a Treasury man to be His Master’s Voice.

December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 49

46-49 #11 tentacles.indd 49 12/03/2013 13:28:35

12/03/2013 13:29:28

, David Lipsey paints a Lipsey , David n his excellent – though dated – book T n his excellent – though dated – book picture of an institution dominated by the Chancellor, whose prime concern is stewardship of the public finances. Secret Treasury

Lipsey wrote in the late 1990s. However, the central focus of the organisation remains the collection of funds for the exchequer (tax; delivered through the Budget process) and the management of public expenditure spending review Treasury’s (through the process, and associated spending controls). to Treasury financial crisis forced the The considerably beef up its financial services on the basis that policy capability – broadly, the public finances are exposed in the event of any policy failure (the strongest argument I December 2012 Understand the arguments and Understand streamline your requests – the will listen, writes Treasury James Dowling Catch them while you can: George Osborne leave the Treasury and Danny Alexander 50 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | influencexxxxxx 50-53 #11.indd 50 50-53 #11.indd 51 external stakeholders. The tax teamsarealso who spendmuch oftheirtimespeakingto financial servicesandEuropean policyteams, accessible totheoutsideworld,are the most liketherestof Whitehall, andmost configured thatway. The partsofthe Treasury Some oftheorganisationisdeliberately face Whitehall ratherthantheoutsideworld. box –anditistruethatmanyofitsofficials timetables. by theBudgetandspendingreviewcycles the officials)remainstaxandspending,driven a largeextentthecentralfocus(certainlyfor a new, significant,strandofpolicymaking,to HMT). However,althoughthathascreated for retentionoffinancialservicespolicyin Figures The Treasury isoftenseenasabitofblack count that December 2012 | THEHOUSEMAGAZINE 51

12/03/2013 13:29:29

xxxxxxx very open to outside engagement – as is the elsewhere. However, the international and growth directorate and Infrastructure UK. financial services directorates are not well- The rest of the organisation is much more understood by the rest of HMT – and the impenetrable. lack of an established central coordinating The Treasury directorates responsible for, team – particularly on the financial services respectively, tax, spending and economic side – has arguably exacerbated this. Things policy are relatively well-integrated, and are much better than they were; however, the understand each other very well. Within consequence is that anyone engaging on an each, there is a well-established central team issue which crosses the boundaries of these structure to coordinate policy making and policy areas should not always be confident ensure it is informed by what is going on that something they have said to one part 52 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

50-53 #11.indd 52 12/03/2013 13:29:32 of the organisation has always reached the other. Lipsey talked of Treasury staff as ‘intellectual, austere’ officials ‘working inhumane hours for unspectacular pay’. His comment on the hours and pay was certainly Be careful about asking accurate. However, as befits an organisation for an extended shopping list which employs many economists and of things statisticians, the expectation is that policy will be evidence-based, and well-argued. Consistent with the sound stewardship of the argument is as factually-based and clearly public finances, the official Treasury is also delineated as possible, ensuring that the likely to take a fairly conservative view of the impacts on the public finances and policy economic benefits of any policy interventions, benefits are realistically-costed (not spun) and will be innately suspicious of any proposal and clearly-defined. If officials are interested, for expenditure of public money. Left to they will probably say as much; equally, they itself, this tends to produce a default official will feed back with any concerns they might position which favours both tax rises and have which need addressing. You should spending restraint. The counterbalance to this be willing constructively to engage – either is the Chancellor and his political team. The clearly to explain, or to trim or amend the ask Treasury has a highly democratic culture, with if necessary. even junior officials encouraged to challenge Finally, be careful about asking for an those senior to them. Officials are quite extended shopping list of things – this tends prepared to push back to ministers if they see to irritate. Policy suggestions should be the need. However, ultimately, the Chancellor prioritised relative to each other as far as decides – and, in the face of a clear steer, the possible – and trimmed to the prevailing Treasury will put together a package. political wind. To this end, it is helpful if The lessons from this are, firstly, that you can ensure that your views are seen as anyone who wants to engage should be aware representative of a broader coalition of opinion of the Budget and Spending Review cycles, as possible – thereby adding more weight to and ensure they engage well ahead of the main your argument. policy process getting underway. Engagement should also aim to capture, ideally, the official or political centre of the Treasury, as well as the officials in the policy teams. This is because many ideas which are viewed favourably or even as priorities by policy officials are killed by the centre in any Budget or Spending Review negotiation because of a perceived lack of political or fiscal fit. James Dowling is an Associate Director Secondly, anyone wanting to make HMT at Fleishman-Hillard. He worked at the listen to them has to ensure that their policy Treasury from 2007 to 2011 December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 53

50-53 #11.indd 53 12/03/2013 13:29:32 consultations Decommissioning Relief Deeds: Increasing Aim of the consultation tax certainty for oil and gas investment in • This document sets out proposals to the UK Continental Shelf provide certainty on decommissioning relief through a Decommissioning Issued: 09 July 2012 Relief Deed (‘the Deed’). Views on this Open date: 09 July 2012 approach are invited from a wide range Close date: 06 February 2013 of stakeholders including individuals, companies, and representative and Background professional bodies. In particular, the • At Budget 2012, the Government Government invites comments from announced a package of measures on oil companies involved in upstream oil and and gas taxation to support investment. gas production in the UK and UKCS This package includes the introduction of and connected activities, including the legislation in 2013 giving the Government provision of financial and legal services. statutory authority to sign contracts with companies operating in the UK and UK Contact: Continental Shelf (UKCS), to provide assurance on the tax relief they will receive Responses to this consultation should be sent when decommissioning assets. either by email to: • The Government recognises that a perceived lack of certainty over how much [email protected]. decommissioning tax relief companies gov.uk may be able to claim in future is currently making it difficult for oil and gas assets or by post to: to change hands, limiting the funds available for new ventures, and deterring Stuart Gregory and Rachel Joseph, incremental investment. The contractual Oil and Gas Decommissioning Consultation, approach that the Government is Business and International Tax, proposing in this consultation is intended HM Treasury, to address these issues, facilitating 1 Horse Guards Road, ongoing investment and production in London, the UK Continental Shelf and increasing SW1A 2HQ. Exchequer benefits. ConsultationsCurrent 54 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | december 2012

54-55 #11.indd 54 12/03/2013 13:30:19 Deferring the payment of corporate ‘exit Consultation charges’: a technical consultation • The Government has announced that this change will be made through Finance Issued: 11 December 2012 Bill 2013, and will have effect to permit Open date: 11 December 2012 companies to elect to defer the payment Close date: 06 February 2013 of exit charges that fall due from 11 December 2012 onwards. Background • This consultation document is published • The Government is amending legislation alongside draft legislation and outlines the to address the way in which HMRC obligations of a company electing to defer collects corporation tax charges levied the payment of exit charges. The purpose on unrealised profits or gains when a UK of this technical consultation is to seek resident company that is registered in an views on the draft legislation and ensure EEA territory transfers its place of effective that the amended legislation works as management to another EEA State (often intended, and does not create unforeseen described as “exit charges”). This follows impacts or burdens. a decision by the Court of Justice of the • HM Treasury would like to hear from all European Union. These amendments will interested parties. Respondents should offer such companies the option to defer address any of the questions in the payment of exit charges over a period of consultation document where they feel time provided that certain conditions are they can make a contribution, as well as met. The change is intended to protect offering any further comments they may public finances, support businesses with have. cash-flow issues, and ensure UK law remains compatible with EU law. Contact: Send responses to:

Exit Tax Consultation Corporate Tax Team HM Treasury 1 Horse Guards Road SW1A 2HQ

or email:

[email protected]

december 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 55

54-55 #11.indd 55 12/03/2013 13:30:19 contacts TREASURY Contacts Nicholas Macpherson [email protected]. [email protected]. Permanent Secretary gov.uk gov.uk 020 7270 4360 nicholas.macpherson@hmtreasury. Michael Ellam Eleanor Shawcross gsi.gov.uk Director General Special Adviser to George Osborne International and EU 020 7270 5027 Beth Russell 020 7270 6637 eleanor.shawcross@hmtreasury. Deputy Director [email protected]. gsi.gov.uk Ministerial Support gov.uk 020 7270 5212 Ramesh Chhabra [email protected] David Ramsden Special Adviser to George Osborne Director General 020 7270 5027 Jonathan Black Chief Economic Adviser [email protected]. Deputy Director 020 7270 4318 gov.uk Communications [email protected]. [email protected]. gov.uk Poppy Mitchell-Rose gov.uk Special Adviser to George Osborne Sharon White 020 7270 5013 Tom Scholar Director General poppy.mitchell-rose@hmtreasury. Second Permanent Secretary Public Spending gsi.gov.uk 020 7270 5202 020 7270 5504 [email protected]. [email protected]. Will De Peyer uk gov.uk Special Adviser to Danny Alexander 020 7270 5027 John Kingman Jonathan Taylor [email protected]. Second Permanent Secretary Director General gov.uk 020 7270 1599 Financial Services [email protected]. 020 7270 5933 Julia Goldsworthy gov.uk [email protected]. Special Adviser to Danny Alexander gov.uk 020 7270 5013 James Bowler [email protected]. Director Julian Kelly gov.uk Strategy, Planning and Budget Group Director [email protected]. Finance and Control Robert Chote gov.uk 020 7270 5367 Office for Budget Responsibility [email protected] Senior Civil Servant Alison Cottrell 020 7271 2442 Director Rupert Harrison [email protected] Corporate Services Special Adviser to George Osborne 56 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

56-62 #11.indd 56 12/03/2013 13:31:49 Geoffrey Spence Senior Civil Servant Rodney Norman Infrastructure UK 020 7270 4670 Fiscal Senior Civil Servant [email protected] Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 6631 020 7270 4368 [email protected]. Kumar Iyer [email protected]. gov.uk Strategy, Planning and Budget gov.uk Senior Civil Servant Michael Fekete 020 7270 6091 Conrad Smewing Infrastructure UK [email protected] Fiscal Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4490 Matthew Toombs 020 7270 5522 [email protected]. Strategy, Planning and Budget [email protected]. gov.uk Senior Civil Servant gov.uk 020 7270 4351 James Ballingall Donna Leong Infrastructure UK Bill Dickinson Fiscal Senior Civil Servant Asset Protection Agency Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 1328 Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4327 [email protected]. 020 7877 3409 [email protected]. gov.uk [email protected] gov.uk

Stephen Dance Ion Dagtoglou Stephen Evans Infrastructure UK Asset Protection Agency Financial Stability Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant [email protected]. [email protected] 020 7270 5476 gov.uk [email protected]. Paul Doran gov.uk Nikhil Rathi Asset Protection Agency Financial Regulation and Markets Senior Civil Servant Elizabeth Dymond Senior Civil Servant [email protected] Financial Stability 020 7270 4448 Senior Civil Servant [email protected] Adrian Yeo 020 7270 5095 Asset Protection Agency elizabeth.dymond@hmtreasury. Martina Garcia Senior Civil Servant gsi.gov.uk Financial Regulation and Markets [email protected] Senior Civil Servant Mridul Hedge 020 7270 5083 James Richardson Financial Stability [email protected]. Fiscal Senior Civil Servant gov.uk Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4750 020 7270 4738 [email protected]. Gary Roberts [email protected]. gov.uk Financial Regulation and Markets gov.uk December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 57

56-62 #11.indd 57 12/03/2013 13:31:49 Stephen Albert Parker tamara.finkelstein@hmtreasury. Mike Glycopantis Treasury Legal Advisers gsi.gov.uk International and European Union Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 5666 Lindsey Whyte 020 7270 5584 [email protected]. Public Services [email protected]. gov.uk Senior Civil Servant gov.uk 020 7270 4904 Nigel Lefton [email protected]. Peter Curwen Treasury Legal Advisers gov.uk International and European Union Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 5844 Tony Foot 020 7270 4470 [email protected] Public Services [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant gov.uk Phinella Henderson 020 7270 5473 Treasury Legal Advisers [email protected] Vanessa MacDougall Senior Civil Servant International and European Union 020 7270 4695 Edward Twiddy Senior Civil Servant phinella.henderson@hmtreasury. Public Services 020 7270 4320 gsi.gov.uk Senior Civil Servant vanessa.macdougall@hmtreasury. 020 7270 4790 gsi.gov.uk Sue Cochrane [email protected]. Treasury Legal Advisers gov.uk Shona Riach Senior Civil Servant International and European Union [email protected]. Paul Doyle Senior Civil Servant gov.uk Public Services [email protected] Senior Civil Servant Rebecca Lane 020 7270 4916 Alex Skinner Treasury Legal Advisers [email protected] International and European Union Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant [email protected]. Andrew Olive 020 7270 5747 gov.uk Public Spending [email protected] Senior Civil Servant Gareth Evans 020 7270 5544 Jenny Bates Treasury Legal Advisers [email protected]. International and European Union Senior Civil Servant gov.uk Senior Civil Servant [email protected]. 020 7270 5311 gov.uk Lewis Neal [email protected] Public Spending Tamara Finkelstein Senior Civil Servant David Lunn Public Services 020 7270 4829 International and European Union Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 5516 [email protected] 58 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

56-62 #11.indd 58 12/03/2013 13:31:49 Richard Salt Doug Rayner 020 7270 4821 International and European Union Financial Management and [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant Reporting gov.uk 020 7270 4875 Senior Civil Servant [email protected] 020 7270 4866 Emil Levendoglu [email protected] Financial Services Andrew Gurney Senior Civil Servant Economics Lindsey Fussell 020 7270 4714 Senior Civil Servant Financial Management and [email protected]. 020 7270 4329 Reporting gov.uk [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant gov.uk 020 7270 6245 Bridget Micklem [email protected]. Financial Services Andrew Ross gov.uk Senior Civil Servant Economics 020 7270 5452 Senior Civil Servant Paula Diggle [email protected]. 020 7270 4615 Financial Management and gov.uk [email protected]. Reporting gov.uk Senior Civil Servant Jeremy Pocklington 020 7270 4304 Enterprise and Growth Nick Vaughan [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant Economics uk jeremy.pocklington@hmtreasury. Senior Civil Servant gsi.gov.uk 020 7270 5403 Karen Sanderson [email protected]. Financial Management and Jonathan Mills gov.uk Reporting Enterprise and Growth Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant Andrew King 020 7270 5887 020 7270 4650 Economics [email protected]. [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant gov.uk gov.uk 020 7270 5382 [email protected]. Chris Wobschall Polly Payne gov.uk Financial Management and Enterprise and Growth Reporting Senior Civil Servant Heidi Adcock Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4659 Financial Management and 020 7270 4508 [email protected] Reporting [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant gov.uk Dan Micklethwaite [email protected]. Enterprise and Growth gov.uk Gwyneth Nurse Senior Civil Servant Financial Services dan.micklethwaite@hmtreasury. Senior Civil Servant gsi.gov.uk December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 59

56-62 #11.indd 59 12/03/2013 13:31:49 Jessica Lee Sue Catchpole Karen Delafield Enterprise and Growth Business and International Tax Corporate Centre Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant [email protected] 020 7270 4339 020 7270 5400 [email protected]. [email protected]. Ruth Hannant gov.uk gov.uk Enterprise and Growth Senior Civil Servant Steven Effingham Mike Long 020 7270 5379 Business and International Tax Corporate Centre [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant gov.uk 020 7270 6050 020 7270 4848 [email protected]. [email protected] John Russell gov.uk Enterprise and Growth Kavalneer Walia Senior Civil Servant Jon Sherman Corporate Centre [email protected] Business and International Tax Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 6373 Nicole Kett 020 7270 6080 [email protected]. Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions [email protected]. gov.uk Senior Civil Servant gov.uk [email protected] Sarah Thompson Alison Cottrell Corporate Centre Stuart Glassborow Corporate Centre Senior Civil Servant Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 5383 Senior Civil Servant [email protected]. [email protected]. 020 7270 6626 gov.uk gov.uk stuart.glassborow@hmtreasury. gsi.gov.uk Sarah Tebbutt Monica Ennis Corporate Centre Corporate Centre Richard Brown Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant Business and International Tax 020 7270 6310 [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant [email protected]. gov.uk 020 7270 6040 gov.uk [email protected]. Richard Philip Douglas gov.uk Liz Corrin Government Finance Profession Corporate Centre Senior Civil Servant Mike Williams Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4554 Business and International Tax 020 7270 5603 [email protected] Senior Civil Servant [email protected] 020 7270 4630 [email protected]. gov.uk 60 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

56-62 #11.indd 60 12/03/2013 13:31:49 Jennifer Pearce [email protected] [email protected] Government Finance Profession Senior Civil Servant Robert Stheeman Julian Hynd 020 7270 5577 UK Debt Management Office National Savings and Investments [email protected]. Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant gov.uk 020 7862 6500 [email protected] [email protected] Terry Rogers Robert Heap Government Finance Profession Steve Whiting National Savings and Investments Senior Civil Servant UK Debt Management Office Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 5874 Senior Civil Servant [email protected] [email protected] 0845 357 6532 [email protected] Gillian McGratten David Smith National Savings and Investments Government Finance Profession Jim Juffs Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant UK Debt Management Office [email protected] 020 7270 6181 Senior Civil Servant [email protected]. 0845 357 6520 Dharmesh Tailor gov.uk [email protected] National Savings and Investments Senior Civil Servant Madeleine Smith Jo Whelan 020 7932 6766 Government Finance Profession UK Debt Management Office [email protected] Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 5784 0845 357 6531 Rodney Norman [email protected]. [email protected] National Savings and Investments gov.uk Senior Civil Servant John Prout [email protected] Maria Taulli National Savings and Investments Government Finance Profession Senior Civil Servant Indra Morris Senior Civil Servant 020 7348 6626 HM Treasury 020 7270 4554 [email protected] Senior Civil Servant [email protected] 020 7270 5429 Stephen Owen [email protected]. Susanna Moorehead National Savings and Investments uk IMF and World Bank Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7348 9342 Helen Chamberlin +1 202 623 4548 [email protected] HM Treasury [email protected] Senior Civil Servant Jane Platt 020 7270 4360 Alex Gibbs National Savings and Investments helen.chamberlin@hmtreasury. IMF and World Bank Senior Civil Servant gsi.gov.uk Senior Civil Servant 020 7932 6601 December 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 61

56-62 #11.indd 61 12/03/2013 13:31:49 Philip John Remnant Simon Girdlestone Lucy Pink UK Financial Investments ltd Financial Stability Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4558 020 7270 4558 020 7270 4558 [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. gsi.gov.uk gsi.gov.uk gsi.gov.uk

Jo Fox Matthew Style Callum McCarthy Infrastructure UK Public Services HMT Management Board Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4558 020 7270 4558 020 7270 4558 [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. gsi.gov.uk gsi.gov.uk gsi.gov.uk

Doug Segars Eleanor Taylor Deirdre Mary Hutton Infrastructure UK Public Spending HMT Management Board Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4558 020 7270 4558 020 7270 4558 [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. gsi.gov.uk gsi.gov.uk gsi.gov.uk

Sophie Dean Mikael Down Sarah Elizabeth Mary Hogg Financial Stability International and European Union HMT Management Board Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant Senior Civil Servant 020 7270 4558 020 7270 4558 020 7270 4558 [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. [firstname.surname]@hmtreasury. gsi.gov.uk gsi.gov.uk gsi.gov.uk

62 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | December 2012

56-62 #11.indd 62 12/03/2013 13:31:50 In tough economic times I am quite clear that Local Partnerships exists to help the public sector deliver locally.

Judith Armitt Chief Executive [email protected]

If you would like more information about Local Partnerships, or need support and advice with a programme or project please contact: Andrew Coleman, Corporate Director Local Partnerships is jointly owned by [email protected] or any member of the team: [email protected] Tel: 020 7187 7379 www.localpartnerships.org.uk Dods would like to thank the following organisations for their support in enabling the Guide to Number 11 & the Treasury to be published

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