Has Blair created a West Wing in Downing Street?The West Wing represents the nerve centre of American Politics. More than a physical structure, it is a reference to the 50 or so

senior Presidential Staff, based in the White House.

Four key developments in British politics since 1997 have contributed to this debate…

• A proliferation in the number of bodies and individuals, working at the heart of government

• An increased tendency for such individuals to be directly answerable to the PM

• An increase in the number and influence of special advisors

• The physical concentration of these staff in and around Downing Street

The Cabinet Office

• This was established in 1916 a s formal and permanent body , intended to be bureaucratic, not political

• It had 7 roles: to circulate papers, prepare agendas, summon personnel, minute meetings, report back on implementation, coordinate goodwill.

Developments in the Cabinet Office

• 1997 – Labour pomised ‘joined up’ government and began the apparent merger of the Cabinet Office (CO) and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

• 2006 – Very opaque, look at the PM’s structural organogram of 2004. There are many separate policy units and task forces and many committees, with a great deal of overlapping personnel.

The Prime Ministers Office

• Basically this refers to NO.10 and consists of all the bodies who assist in the day to day running of the PM’s business.

• Since 1997, the PMO has become more complicated and more important. It is now a series of units – all of which are also part of the CO

• Since 1997 – the creation of a new position - Chief of Staff to manage and coordinate. This is significant because it is a role which is formal, public and carries important executive powers.

Three new bodies in the PMO

• The Social Exclusion Unit

• The Performance and Innovation Unit

• The Strategic Communications Unit

all of these Units report to the PM, even the PIU which is actually part of the CO.

• There are now more Special Advisors in the PMO

The PMO since 2001

• Reorganising and restructuring of existing units and the merger of the Private Office with the Policy Unit

• Posts such as Director of Communications – Alistair Campbell

• 3 entirely new bodies – Forward Strategy UnitDelivery UnitOffice of Public Services ReformWhat is significant about these developments? They increased the PMs power and represented another

step in the merger of the CO and PMO into what appeared to be a Prime Ministers Department

How much does the PM control these government bodies/ core executive?

• PM is omnipresent in all serious policy reviews• The CO’s self proclaimed main objective is to

support PM in leading government• The Cabinet Secretary is appointed by the PM

and answerable to the PM• There is an overlap of Personnel between the

PMO and the CO

Control of the Core Executive is therefore HUGE

Special Advisors• Why? To avoid gridlock with the civil service in 1997 and especially

as the Labour administration had adopted a twin focus of Strategy and Implementation

• What are they? Civil servants, paid for by tax payers, but NOT bound by the usual rules of IMPARTIALITY, PERMANENCE OR ANONYMITY

• Types – Policy Advisors or Spin Doctors• Roles – to make the govt less reliant on the civil service

- to help the PM keep up to date with departments - to keep ministers ON MESSAGE and to communicate

message to the public

• Some can be unpaid e.g. Lord Bird, former Director General of the BBC who became chief advisor to PM on crime.

How many advisors are there and where are they?

• Most are in Civil Service Departments• Each minister can appoint two• The PM’s choices are the most interesting in the

West Wing debate• 25 appointees were in post in 2005• ORDER IN COUNCIL- This gave up to 3

politically appointed advisors far reaching executive powers to give INSTRUCTIONS to regular civil servants e.g. Campbell and Powell

Conclusions on the West Wing debate

• The physical relocation of 17 CO offices from Whitehall to Downing Street means we have a Prime Minister’s Department in all but name.

• We have a fusion of the CO and the PMO• There has been a massive expansion in the number of

bodies in the CO and the PMO• Most are now directly answerable to the PM• Short term political advisors are now working at the top

of these bodies as oppose to career civil servants• Key staff are all within walking distance of each other