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the leadership of the party. The question was whether the PM would be strong enough to ignore Jim Hacker or whether, in the interests of party unity, the PM would be obliged to give him a good job \u2014 Ed. ]
\nBy the end of today I’ve heard on the grapevine that Bill\u2019s got Europe. Poor old Europe. Bill can\u2019t speak French or German. He hardly even speaks English, as a matter of fact. Martin\u2019s got the Foreign Office, as expected, Jack\u2019s got Health and Fred\u2019s got Energy.
\nI told Annie of these appointments, and she asked me if anyone had got Brains. I suppose she means Education.
\nOctober 24th
\nAt last I\u2019m a Cabinet Minister.
\nAnd today I had my first encounter with the Civil Service, and I must say I am very impressed.
\nI got the call from Number Ten at about 9 a. m., after a sleepless night, and immediately Frank Weisel and I caught the London train. I got a taxi to Number Ten, where I was asked by the PM to take over the Department of Administrative Affairs.
\nThis is an important post. In the Cabinet ranking, about eighth or ninth I should think. On the other hand, Martin reminded me (when he phoned to congratulate me) that the DAA is a political graveyard, a bit like the Home Office, and the PM may have over-promoted me – a vengeful move. I am determined to get a grip on the DAA and prove to the PM that I\u2019m not so easily taken care of.
\nI was expecting to be Minister of Agriculture, as I\u2019ve shadowed Agriculture for seven years, and have many good ideas about it, but for some inexplicable reason the PM decided against this.
\n[We found a memo from Sir Andrew Donnelly, Permanent Secre tary of Agriculture, to Sir Arnold Robinson, Secretary to the Cabinet, imploring Sir Arnold to make sure that Hacker did not get Agriculture as he was too ‘genned up’ on it. Cabinet Papers show that Sir Arnold managed to convey to the PM that it would be better for Hacker not to go to Agriculture because \u2018he\u2019s been thinking about it rather too long and is perhaps in a bit of a rut\u2019 – Ed. ]
\nAn official car met me as I came out of Number Ten, and I was driven straight to the DAA. I was met on the front steps by Bernard Woolley, who is to be my Private Secretary, and his assistant. He seems a likeable enough chap.
\nTo my surprise he instantly knew who Frank Weisel was, as we got out of the car, though he pronounced his name \u2018Weasel\u2019, which always infuriates Frank.
\nWe walked down miles of corridors. When we got to my office Frank had disappeared with the Assistant Private Secretary. Bernard assured me that Frank was being taken care of. They really are awfully nice and helpful.
\nMy office is large, with a big desk, a conference table with lots of chairs around it, and a few armchairs arranged around a coffee table to form a conversation area. Otherwise, rather characterless. Ber nard immediately went to the drinks cupboard.
\n\u2018A drink, Minister? \u2019
\nI nodded. \u2018Jim, \u2019 I said, as I want us to be on first-name terms.
\n\u2018Gin? \u2019 he said, mishearing me.
\n\u2018No, \u2019 I said, \u2018Jim. Call me Jim. \u2019
\nBernard said: \u2018If it\u2019s all the same to you, I\u2019d rather call you Minis ter, Minister. \u2019
\n\u2018Minister, Minister? \u2019 It reminded me of Major Major in Catch-22. Then I realised what he meant. I asked him, \u2018Does that mean I have to call you Private Secretary, Private Secretary? \u2019
\nBernard said I was to call him Bernard. I\u2019m sure that in the course of time I\u2019ll persuade him to call me Jim.
\nA moment later Sir Humphrey Appleby arrived. He is the Perma nent Secretary of the DAA, the Civil Service Head of the Depart ment. He is in his early fifties I should think, but – somehow – ageless. He is charming and intelligent, a typical mandarin. He welcomed me to the Department.
\n\u2018I believe you\u2019ve met before, \u2019 Bernard remarked. I was struck for the second time how well-informed this young man is.
\nSir Humphrey said, \u2018Yes, we did cross swords when the Minister gave me a grilling over the Estimates in the Public Accounts Commit tee last year. He asked me all the questions I hoped nobody would ask. \u2019
\nThis is splendid. Sir Humphrey clearly admires me. I tried to brush it off. \u2018Well, \u2019 I said, \u2018Opposition\u2019s about asking awkward questions. \u2019
\n\u2018Yes, \u2019 said Sir Humphrey, \u2018and government is about not answering them. \u2019
\nI was surprised. \u2018But you answered all my questions, didn\u2019t you, \u2019 I commented.
\n\u2018I\u2019m glad you thought so, Minister, \u2019 said Sir Humphrey. I didn\u2019t quite know what he meant by that. I decided to ask him who else was in the Department.
\n\u2018Briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private
\nSecretary. I, too, have a Principal Private Secretary, and he is the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, eighty-seven Under secretaries and two hundred and nineteen Assistant Secretaries. Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretaries are plain Private Secretaries. The Prime Minister will be appointing two Par liamentary Under-Secretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary. \u2019
\n\u2018Can they all type? \u2019 I joked.
\n\u2018None of us can type, Minister, \u2019 replied Sir Humphrey smoothly. \u2018Mrs McKay types – she is your secretary. \u2019
\nI couldn\u2019t tell whether or not he was joking. \u2018What a pity, \u2019 I said. \u2018We could have opened an agency. \u2019
\nSir Humphrey and Bernard laughed. \u2018Very droll, sir, \u2019 said Sir Humphrey. \u2018Most amusing, sir,’ said Bernard. Were they genuinely amused at my wit, or just being rather patronising? \u2018I suppose they all say that, do they? \u2019 I ventured.
\nSir Humphrey reassured me on that. \u2018Certainly not, Minister, \u2019 he replied. \u2018Not quite all. \u2019
\nI decided to take charge at once. I sat behind my desk and to my dismay I found it had a swivel chair. I don\u2019t like swivel chairs. But Bernard immediately assured me that everything in the office can be changed at my command – furniture, decor, paintings, office routine. I am unquestionably the boss!
\nBernard then told me that they have two types of chair in stock, to go with two kinds of Minister – \u2018One sort folds up instantly and the other sort goes round and round in circles. \u2019 On second thoughts, perhaps that was another of Bernard\u2019s little jokes.
\nI decided that the time had come to be blunt and to tell them what\u2019s what. \u2018Frankly, \u2019 I said, \u2018this Department has got to cut a great swathe through the whole of the stuffy Whitehall bureaucracy. We need a new broom. We are going to throw open the windows and let in a bit of fresh air. We are going to cut through the red tape and streamline this creaking old bureaucratic machine. We are going to have a clean sweep. There are far too many useless people just sitting behind desks. \u2019
\nI became aware that I was actually sitting behind a desk, but I\u2019m sure that they realised that I was not referring to myself.
\nI explained that we had to start by getting rid of people who just make work for each other. Sir Humphrey was very helpful, and suggested that I mean redeploy them – which, I suppose, is what I do
\nmean. I certainly want to reduce overmanning, but I don\u2019t actually want to be responsible for putting people out of work.
\nBut, by the clean sweep and the new broom, I mean that we must have more Open Government. We made election pledges about this, and I intend to keep them. We must take the nation into our confidence. I said all this to Humphrey and Bernard who, to my surprise, were wholeheartedly in favour of these ideas.
\nHumphrey referred to my speeches on this subject in the House last year. And he referred to my Observer article, Daily Mail inter view, and the manifesto.
\nI am most impressed that he knows so much about me.
\nHumphrey then produced draft proposals, to implement my policy in a White Paper. I was flabbergasted. The efficiency of the Civil Service is quite astounding. They even plan, Sir Humphrey tells me, to call the White Paper \u2018Open Government\u2019.
\nAll of these draft proposals are available to me within thirty-six hours of the new government being elected and within minutes of my arrival at my office. And on a weekend! Remarkable chaps. I asked Humphrey who had done all this.
\n\u2018The creaking old bureaucratic machine, \u2019 he replied with a smile. \u2018No seriously, Minister, we are fully seized of the need for reform and we have taken it on board. \u2019
\nI told him I was slightly surprised.
\n\u2018I thought I\u2019d have to fight you all the way, \u2019 I said.
\nSir Humphrey remarked that people have funny ideas about the Civil Service.
\n\u2018 We are just here to help you formulate and implement your policies, \u2019 he explained.
\nHe seems most sincere.
\nThe draft proposals, which I have brought home tonight to my London flat in a red box, include \u2018Proposals for Shortening Approval Procedures in Planning Appeals\u2019. Excellent. Sir Humphrey was able to quote from Hansard the rather amusing question which I\u2019d asked earlier this year in the House:
\n[Actually they cried \u2018Bollocks\u2019 – Ed. ]
\nAs it\u2019s Saturday, we have arranged to start things properly on Monday morning. But they\u2019ve given me six red boxes for the weekend, four to be completed by tonight and two more tomorrow. Bernard tells me that the previous Minister got a bit slack about the paperwork, especially during the election campaign.
\nI\u2019m certainly not going to be slack! I shall be a good Minister. I shall read everything they give me to read.
\nOctober 26th
\nI read all my boxes over the weekend. It took about nine hours. I caught the 7. 15 a. m. train to Euston, the official car met me, and I was in the office by 9. 20.,
\nAll the draft proposals for Open Government are superficially pretty impressive, but I happen to know that the Civil Service is pretty good at delaying tactics. I mentioned this to Humphrey at a meeting today. I think he\u2019s getting to know who\u2019s boss around here.
\nBut first things first. The day started with the diary. I found to my surprise that there were numerous appointments in it already. I asked how this was possible, since they didn\u2019t even know who would win the election.
\nBernard said: ‘We knew there\u2019d be a Minister, Minister. \u2019 I told him not to start that again.
\nSir Humphrey explained, \u2018Her Majesty likes the business of government to continue, even when there are no politicians around. \u2019
\n\u2018Isn\u2019t that very difficult? \u2019 I asked.
\n\u2018Yes… and no, \u2019 said Humphrey. I must say, I can\u2019t see how it\u2019s possible to govern without the politicians. I\u2019m afraid that Humphrey might have delusions of grandeur…
\nMy diary was pretty frightening. Cabinet at 10 on Thursday. Nine Cabinet committees this week. A speech to the Law Institute tomorrow night, a deputation from the British Computer Association
\nat 10. 30 tomorrow morning, University Vice-Chancellors lunch on Wednesday (another speech), opening the National Conference of Public Employers on Thursday morning (another speech), and so on.
\nI noticed that everything in the diary is in pencil, so presumably much of it can be and will be changed. I pointed out to Bernard that I have various other commitments.
\nBernard looked puzzled. \u2018Such as? \u2019 he asked.
\n\u2018Well… I\u2019m on four policy committees of the party, for a start. \u2019
\n\u2018I\u2019m sure you won\u2019t be wanting to put party before country, \u2019 said Sir Humphrey. I had never looked at it in that light. Of course, he\u2019s absolutely right.
\nThey were going to give me three more red boxes for tonight, by the way. When I jibbed at this a bit, Sir Humphrey explained that there are a lot of decisions to take and announcements to approve. He then tried something on, by saying: \u2018But we could, in fact, minimise the work so that you need only take the major policy decisions. \u2019
\nI saw through that ploy at once. I insisted that I would take all the decisions and read all the relevant documents.
\nThey\u2019ve given me five boxes for tonight.
\nOctober 27th
\nToday I found that we have a problem with Frank Weisel. It\u2019s Tuesday today, and I realised that I hadn\u2019t seen him since I arrived at the DAA last Saturday morning.
\nTo be quite truthful, I didn\u2019t actually realise it till he barged into my office, shouting and carrying on, demanding to be let in.
\nIt appears that he\u2019s been in the waiting room since Saturday. (I presume he went home on Sunday. ) Bernard tried to tell him that he, Humphrey and I were in private conference, but I quickly sorted that out. I demanded that Frank, as my adviser, be given an office in the Department.
\nSir Humphrey attempted to fudge the issue, saying that I had a whole Department to advise me now. Nonetheless I insisted.
\n\u2018Well, \u2019 said Sir Humphrey, \u2018I believe we have some spare office space in Walthamstow, don\u2019t we Bernard? \u2019
\nFrank was appalled. \u2018Walthamstow? \u2019
\n\u2018Yes, it\u2019s surprising isn\u2019t it? \u2019 said Sir Humphrey agreeably. \u2018The government owns property all over London. \u2019
\n\u2018But I don\u2019t want to be in Walthamstow, \u2019 explained Frank at the top of his voice.
\n\u2018It\u2019s in a very nice part of Walthamstow, \u2019 put in Bernard.
\n\u2018And Walthamstow\u2019s a very nice place. So I gather, \u2019 added Sir Humphrey.
\nFrank and I looked at each other. If they were not so charming and, well, gentlemanly, you might have thought they were trying to squeeze Frank right out.
\n\u2018I need an office here, in this building, \u2019 said Frank, firmly and extremely loudly.
\nI added my agreement. Sir Humphrey capitulated at once, and told Bernard to find a suitable office right away. I then said, to make assurance doubly sure, that I expected Frank to have copies of all the papers that are given to me.
\nBernard seemed surprised. \u2018All? \u2019
\n\u2018AH, \u2019 I said.
\nSir Humphrey agreed immediately. \u2018It shall be done – all the appropriate papers. \u2019
\nIn my opinion, these civil servants are not nearly so hard to deal with as people say. They are mostly very co-operative and, even if not initially, always jump to it when spoken to firmly. I think I\u2019m getting somewhere at last.
\nOctober 28th
\nAfter the last hectic four days, I have a little time to reflect – for posterity – on my first days in office.
\nFirst, I am impressed by the thorough grasp the officials at the DAA have of every situation. Second, how they are willing to co operate fully, albeit under pressure, with Frank Weisel.
\nThirdly, I am most struck by my dependence on these civil servants. I, like virtually all our new administration, knew nothing of the workings of Whitehall except what I\u2019d learned second-hand. Because we have been so long in opposition, only three members of the government, including the PM, have ever held office before. I had never seen the inside of a red box, never met a Permanent Secretary, and had no idea how things were really done. [This situation is similar to the one in which the Labour Government of 1964 found itself – Harold Wilson, the PM, was the only member of Cabinet who had previously been a Cabinet Minister – Ed. ] This makes us more depen dent on our officials than most new governments. Thank goodness they are behaving honourably.
\n[The following Monday, Sir Humphrey Appleby met Sir Arnold Robinson, Secretary to the Cabinet, at The Reform Club in Pall Mall. Sir Humphrey made a note about the meeting in his private diary. ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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