The origins and history of the special adviser, with particular reference to the 1964-70 Wilson Administrations. Blick, Andrew The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author For additional information about this publication click this link. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1397 Information about this research object was correct at the time of download; we occasionally make corrections to records, please therefore check the published record when citing. For more information contact [email protected] Title: The origins and history of the special adviser, with particular reference to the 1964-70 Wilson Administrations Name of candidate: Andrew Buck College: Queen Mary College, University of London Degree: PhD flzo2 ED%. biJY. Abstract of thesis: Special advisers are temporary civil servants, of party political alignment, appointed on a basis of individual ministerial patronage. Particularly since 1997, there has been much interest in their activities. This work sets out to provide a historical perspective on the subject, which is currently lacking. The long-tenn background to the instigation of the special adviser and the circumstances in which this innovation took place will be discussed. The central focus of this work is upon the period 1964-70, during which, it will be argued, special advisers, as they are now conceived, were first used. Full consideration is given to the subjects of who special advisers were, what they did and why, as well as how they functioned. Their official positions, in terms of matters such as job titles, pay, access to information and rules governing their conduct, will be investigated. Also of importance will be an understanding of their relations with each other, career civil servants and ministers. All of these themes will be extrapolated beyond the period in which special advisers were first used, through to the present day. Most importantly, an explanation of the collective significance of special advisers will be attempted. A core thesis, that they are best understood in terms of their relations with their employing ministers, will be proposed, along with a number of possible alternative interpretations. Primary material, including memoirs, diaries, personal and institutional papers, Public Record Office files and interviews, will form the most important basis for this work. Much of this will be examined for the first time in the context of the special adviser. Secondary 2 sources will also be drawn upon. It is concluded that special advisers were a complex phenomenon and no single interpretation fits them entirely. Nevertheless, the relationship with the employing minister was, at times, extremely important. 3 Contents I Introduction p. 7 II The Permanent Bureaucracy and Outsiders p.38 III Technical Revolutionaries? p.71 IV The First Wave p. 124 V Biographies p. 156 VI Policy p. 190 VII 'The Age of Frivolity was over' p. 232 VIII Policy, Reform and Defeat p. 289 IX Conclusion p. 332 Bibliography p. 365 4 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Peter Hennessy of Queen Mary College, London. My studies were made possible by a three-year Studentship awarded by Queen Mary in 1999. Other college staff! would like to thank in particular are Professor John Ramsden, Professor John Miller, Professor Miii Rubin, Dr Mark White, Dr James Ellison and Dr Mark Glancy. I am also grateful to all those who took the time to talk to me about events of a number of decades ago. Two of these, Lord Harris of Greenwich and the Right Hon. the Lord Shore of Stepney have since passed on. Stuart Holland very kindly supplied me with some of his personal papers. The staff of the Public Record Office, Kew, the British Library, St. Pancras, the British Newspaper Library, Colindale, the British Library of Political and Economic Science, Holbom, the King's College Library, Cambridge, the National Museum of Labour History, Manchester and Queen Mary College Library, Mile End, were all extremely helpful. The Wednesday night Institute of Contemporary British History (ICBH) seminars at Senate House provided a forum for the discussion of many relevant matters, as will as giving me the opportunity to present a paper based on my thesis. In addition to this, the ICBH Director, Dr Harriet Jones, provided me with various work opportunities. The Right Hon. the 5 Lord Radice and Graham Allen, MP also gave me employment during the course of my studies, as well as discussing my work with me. Useful suggestions and advice were supplied by June Morris, Visiting Fellow at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, Professor Tony Thirlwall of the University of Kent, Canterbury, Professor George Jones of the London School of Economics and Professor Lord Skideisky of the University of Warwick. All conclusions are, of course, my own. Finally, I would like to thank Nicola Brookbanks and my parents. 6 Chapter I Introduction Special advisers are temporary civil servants, of overt party political alignment, drawn from beyond the career Civil Service, whose appointments are subject to the patronage of individual ministers. They may be in possession of specialist skills or particular experience, drawn from areas such as academia or business. Variously, they provide services including political counsel, expert guidance, contact with the media, and personal assistance. Changes in the party of government are accompanied by wholesale clear-outs of special advisers. If their minister is sacked or shifted to a new portfolio, they may serve the successor, follow their employer to a different office of government, or be forced to leave Whitehall.' Since the 1997 advent of a Labour administration under the premiership of Tony Blair, the role of the special adviser inside British government has received a high level of public attention, often of a critical nature. 2 There has, however, been no specific attempt to investigate the historical origins and development of this phenomenon, an omission which this work sets out to repair. It is intended that the following tasks will be performed. The long- term background will be explained and precedents for the use of aides of this For descriptions of the special adviser see: Harold Wilson, The Governance of Britain (London: Sphere, 1977), pp239-247, Simon James, British Cabinet Government (London: Routledge, 1999), pp22 1-7 and Reinforcing Standards: Review of the First Report of the Committee on Standards in Public L/è, Sixth Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Cmnd. 4557-1 (London: HMSO, 2000), pp68-71. 2 See, for example: Nicholas Jones, The Control Freaks (London: Politico's, 2001). type sought. The circumstances in which the special adviser was instigated, and the motives lying behind this, must be described. A study of the experiment which followed, during the 1964-70 Labour administrations of Harold Wilson, will be conducted. This period has been selected since, as will be shown, it was the crucial, formative, one for the special adviser. Furthermore, a rich archive of primary evidence, including Public Record Office (PRO) files, is now available. This will enable, for the first time, a careful reconstruction of events and the perceptions of those who participated in them. In this context, full consideration will be given to the subjects of who these counsellors were, what they did and why, as well as how they functioned. Their official positions, in terms of matters such as job titles, pay, access to information and rules governing conduct, will be investigated. Also of importance will be an understanding of their relations with each other, career civil servants and ministers. All of these themes will be extrapolated beyond the period in which special advisers were first used, through to the present day. Most importantly, an explanation of the collective significance of special advisers will be attempted. A core thesis will be proposed, along with a number of possible alternative interpretations of the subject. Because of the lack of secondary material dealing expressly with special advisers, these will largely be inferred from the various sources used. They will be considered throughout, with a final judgement in the conclusion. Primary material, including memoirs, diaries, personal and institutional papers, Public Record Office (PRO) files and interviews, will form the most important basis for this work. Much of this will be examined for the first time in the context of the special adviser. Some of it has only very recently become available to historians, or is exclusive to this study. Secondary sources will also be drawn upon. Existing interpretations, in so far as there are any, will be tested. As previously stated, the focus will be upon the 1964-70 Wilson administrations, during which, it will be argued, special advisers, as they are now conceived, were first used. In Chapters II and III reference will be made to earlier periods and in Chapter VIII, the conclusion, the main themes will be examined in the context of selected post- 1970 examples. The central thesis under examination is that special advisers are best understood in terms of their relationships with their appointing ministers. A description of this interpretation follows. As already stated, aides depended upon the patronage of individual politicians for their employment. Special advisers' first loyalties, therefore, were owed to the particular ministers they served.3 The political interests of both were synonymous. The furtherance of the minister's career, even at the expense of others, was likely to be desirable to the counsellor.4 Employing politicians could become reliant upon their For an expression of this view by one of the most important advocates of the use of special advisers, see: Fabian Society Collection (LSE, London), K 66.1, 'Civil Service', 1963.