ABSTRACT
While often mooted, and its absence an apparent anomaly in a sophisticated system of government, there has never been a ‘Prime Minister’s Department’ dedicated to the task of organising, co-ordinating and liaising on behalf of the Prime Minister. Instead, a British Prime Minister’s team comprises civil service support and non-civil service political support in the form of a specially appointed team of advisers. Heading the Prime Minister’s support system is his Principal Private Secretary who heads the Private Office, who has close relations with both the Cabinet Secretary and the Queen’s Private Secretary. A civil servant, usually seconded from the Treasury for a three year period, it is the Private Secretary who co-ordinates the work of the Prime Minister, controlling the flow of paper into Number 10, and prioritising matters for prime ministerial attention. In addition to the Private Secretary, there is a Private Secretary for Overseas and Defence Affairs, Economic and Home Affairs, Europe, Central and Constitutional Affairs and Security and Intelligence. The Private Secretaries link the Prime Minister with Cabinet, other government ministers and civil servants, and attend prime ministerial meetings and Cabinet meetings. The Prime Minister’s Diary Secretary – a political appointment since 1979 – also plays a key role in the inner corpus of prime ministerial support, controlling the Prime Minister’s time and engagements. A Duty Clerk is responsible for maintaining links between Number 10 and the outside world, and manning the Prime Minister’s office in the absence of the Private Secretary. The Prime Minister’s secretariat, known as the ‘Garden Room Girls’ since Lloyd George’s premiership, completes the support staff at Number 10. These appointments represent the Prime Minister’s staff in his role as head of government. In addition, the Prime Minister must maintain close links with his parliamentary party and with the party in the country. Given the requirement of political neutrality in civil servants, this would be an inappropriate task for the Private Office and, as a result, this responsibility falls on the Prime Minister’s Political Secretary, a post funded by the party rather than the taxpayer. Under Tony Blair’s leadership a political Chief of Staff has played a central role. Also central to Blair ’s administration has been the Director of Communications.
