Books
No lunch today. Jo-Anne Nadler explains why the Tories secretly love Alastair Campbell
Published 16 April 2001
The Control Freaks
Nicholas Jones Politico's Publishing, 256pp, £18.99
ISBN 1902301765
This important book can be read as a fascinating sequel and antidote to Philip Gould's Unfinished Revolution. Gould described the reasons why Labour needed to modernise and seize control of its policies and internal workings, and the concerted efforts of the reforms' main architects to achieve this. Where Gould ends, shortly after Blair's arrival at No 10, Nicholas Jones begins. Where Gould shows us why and how, Jones details what it has meant in practice since Labour has been in government.
Jones reminds us of the influx of former journalists into the government information services and their consequent politicisation, the various controversies involving Alastair Campbell, the increase of political advisers and their role as press briefers, the extent to which Labour has centralised its decision-making processes and the culpability of individual ministers. He has, controversially, repeated "off the record" remarks, most notably in the case of a conversation with Robin Cook on the morning that a select committee was to release a report expected to be critical of him and his department. I do not share Jones's laudable but impractical desire to put all briefings on the record. It would certainly make our work as journalists easier if we could quote sources, but subtleties would be lost, sources of information would dry up and, well, you can't really stop people gossiping. (The Westminster rumour mill isn't always malignant; often, it's simply premature.)
But in this instance, Jones was justified in revealing what Cook had told him - not just because Cook had dictated rather than agreed the terms of their unsolicited conversation but, more importantly, because its timing was crucial evidence which seemingly proved that Cook had received a leaked copy of the embargoed report. Such was the paranoia within government that select committees had been primed with pliable backbenchers, and, as such, their status as scrutinisers degraded.
Coming from a journalist, particularly a non-aligned BBC journalist, Jones's critique has a particular sting. He describes the various efforts of opposition MPs to scourge Labour's control-freakery. And, indeed, points have been scored; but overall, Conservative charges have never had the desired impact. In truth, if the Tories had found as talented and determined a group of operators as Gould, Mandelson, Campbell and Blair, we would have seen a much more advanced opposition and a far more nervous government. Eager Conservative apparatchiks, desperately wanting to replicate Labour's reforms, came up with Hague's "Fresh Future" in place of "new Labour". It never happened.
Take a Tory shadow cabinet minister to lunch, and before you've even poured an appropriately ascetic and oh-so-Mandelsonian glass of Evian, the pager will have gone off a couple of times. And then there's lunch itself. On his arrival as party leader, William Hague told his new shadow cabinet: "My advice on lunching journalists is: don't." Most significantly, Hague personally inscribed copies of Unfinished Revolution for all his shadow cabinet. "Read and learn," he told them. Events suggests that the reading lost out to the lure of lunching.
The appointment of Nick Wood, an experienced Times journalist with political conviction, as Hague's press secretary has helped the Conservatives to tighten up their press operation. To some insiders, he is Campbell-esque: that is, "the most powerful man in the Conservative Party". It seems that where central control is purposefully and appropriately applied, it does pay dividends. Where it goes against the grain of mainstream opinion - or, indeed, where it is not sufficiently applied - it does not.
The Conservatives' problems have been largely of the latter category. Blair's government, however, could correctly be described as one of "control freaks" or even "out-of-control freaks" - and both perceptions have dented new Labour's image. On the control front, the public began to lose respect for new Labour when its control directly affected their choices - that is to say, who they could vote for in the so-called devolved areas.
As for the increased focus on press relations, we have seen the spectacle of ministers' staff briefing against other ministers, which not only undermined the unity of the Cabinet, but suggested that Blair was losing control. The public liked the message that Labour preached about accountability, transparency and democracy. These issues are not the economy, stupid; but the perception that Labour operated at odds with its aims spread a general distrust of the political system. Which makes it even more important for the Conservatives to find the balance between discipline and dictatorship. Nicholas Jones's book should act as an invaluable lesson to all sides.
Jo-Anne Nadler is the author of William Hague: in his own right (Politico's Publishing, £17.99)
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