SpAdcast: What is it really like to be a special adviser? – Ep3: Beyond the department

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2024

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Special Advisers are some of the most important yet misunderstood figures in government. They play vital roles – as the voice of their minister in the department, shaping policy agendas and managing the media. As a new government gets up and running and scores of new SpAds get to grips with their roles, this four part series lifts the lid on what SpAds do, how they do it, and why they’re indispensable to modern government. In the third episode, we look at how SpAds’ work extends beyond their own departments. Government is complicated, so no-one can do one of these jobs effectively without working with other departments across Whitehall. Most SpAds will be in regular contact with the centre – No10 and the Treasury. So how do those relationships work? How powerful is No10 in reality, and what’s it like to negotiate with the Treasury? SpAds also need to work effectively with other departments, so we discuss the importance of the cross-government SpAd network. Finally, we hear about the importance of maintaining good relations with those outside government – including Parliament, their party, and external stakeholders. Presented by Jack Worlidge. Produced by Candice McKenzie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My view is that anyone who works in number 10 our treasury should have had to have worked in a delivery department before they're allowed to go into that building.
0:07.6	Yeah, I don't feel we often got a fair deal out of our spending review because of the level of crises we had to deal with.
0:14.0	But I'm sure Treasury colleagues would disagree with me. Welcome to Spadcast, a special inside briefing podcast from the Institute for Government,
0:31.0	looking at the role of special advisors in government. I'm Jack Wurledge, senior researcher
0:36.2	at the Institute for Government and a former Special Advisor.
0:38.3	As a new government gets up and running, we're using this series to look at the crucial role of Special Advis or SPADS.
0:44.3	So far we've heard about how SPADS are recruited and a lot about what their day-to-day jobs are like in their departments.
0:50.3	But so much of a Special Advisor's role is about relationships beyond the department.
0:55.9	Government is complicated and no one can do one of these jobs effectively without working
0:59.4	with other departments across Whitehall, including number 10 in the Treasury.
1:03.7	And what about Parliament, your political party or the lobbyists think thanks and other
1:07.2	stakeholders vying for your attention?
1:09.7	In this episode, we're going to be looking at how spads manage these relationships,
1:13.2	starting with the centre of government, Number 10 and the Treasury.
1:16.9	I found the most important thing is to kind of appreciate both the power and the weakness of number
1:22.6	10 at the same time.
1:24.8	This is Fraser Raleigh, special advisor to David Liddington during Theresa May's government.
1:29.9	Number 10 is not a static thing, just as Parliament's not a static thing.
1:34.0	Their power waxes and wanes depending on where the politics are at any given moment.
1:39.3	But fundamentally, we still run government from a terrorist house in Westminster.
1:43.8	Even when they're at their strongest, they're still not, they still don't have the manpower
1:47.5	to really interrogate everything that's going on.
	...

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