A new volume of essays puts special advisers in historical context, and suggests the Cabinet has been marginalised by a succession of over-mighty PMs.
This account of three and a half years as a special adviser confirms how trivial and transitory the role can be.
“Conservatives particularly believe that no particular person, or even a government, has a monopoly on the best ideas”, the former Chancellor tells the House.
The trend of the public-facing political aide near the top of government will do more harm than good.
Andrew Gimson’s article on this site yesterday was wrong about its condition. The quality of SpAds that it produces is still high.
Reshuffles, reorganisations, investigations – the Director General of the Propriety and Ethics Team in the Cabinet Office is always in on the action.
Now the number of MPs is being cut, why not cut the number of ministers? And SpAds? And local “Champions”?
But it’s their quality that matters more.
They’re an easy target for criticism, but SpAds make all the difference to the Government’s performance and the Party’s prospects.