PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITEE RELATING TO
THE REPORT
Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations
1. We recommend that
tapes of the Lobby briefings be routinely kept for twelve months
(paragraph 12).
2. We recommend that political appointees
to the Civil Service who are asked to undertake significant amounts
of party political activity should be paid from party funds and
not by the taxpayer. The appointment of Mr Benjamin Wegg-Prosser,
special adviser to the former Minister without Portfolio, is a
precedent for this. We also recommend that there should be no
further changes to the Civil Service Order in Council to allow
more people to work as civil servants, managing other civil servants,
without having been appointed in the normal way, on the basis
of fair and open competition. We believe that by amending the
Order in Council the Government has blurred the crucial distinction
between special advisers and politically neutral civil servants
(paragraph 16).
3. We recommend that the Government consider
the advantage given to the governing party by the Strategic Communications
Unit in the context of its response to the forthcoming report
of the Committee on Standards in Public Life into Party funding.
It should consider whether the Unit gives an undue advantage to
Government (paragraph 27).
4. We recommend that the Government consider
a means of providing more open access to some of the information
available on Agenda, perhaps by placing the information about
forthcoming events on the Internet (paragraph 28).
5. We recommend that the Modernisation Committee
of the House of Commons examine the concerns expressed by Madam
Speaker on the sharp growth in "pre-briefing", that
is, the making of Government announcements, directly or indirectly,
before Parliament has been informed (paragraph 31).
6. We recommend that the Government introduce
a code for Ministers and special advisers on contacts with the
press, perhaps as an annex to the Ministerial Code, to give it
the full authority of the Prime Minister. Such a Code would make
clear the obligations on special advisers and Ministers to work
closely with press offices in general, and should insist that
each Minister agree a set of ground rules with the press office
and the Permanent Secretary on what might be dealt with in contacts
with the media, in order to avoid the danger of (for example)
price-sensitive information being accidentally leaked. But any
code or guidance should also stress the importance of co-operation
between press offices, special advisers and Ministers in presenting
information to the public efficiently and openly (paragraph 36).7
7. We recommend that there be a change in
the rules governing the selection of heads of information to allow
Ministers to express a preference between candidates who had passed
the selection procedure in an open competition (paragraph 41).'
Motion made, and Question proposed, That the Chairman's
draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph—(The
Chairman).
Amendment proposed, to leave out from the word "That"
to end of the Question and insert the words "the appointment
of Dr Jack Cunningham as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
being relevant to the inquiry, the Committee take evidence from
Dr Cunningham before it proceeds to formal consideration of the
Chairman's draft Report".—(Mr Andrew Tyrie.)
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 4 | Noes, 5
|
| Mr Mike Hancock | Mr Peter Bradley
|
| Mr David Ruffley | Mr Ronnie Campbell
|
| Mr Richard Shepherd |
Miss Melanie Johnson |
| Mr Andrew Tyrie | Ms Helen Jones
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp
|
Another Amendment proposed, to leave out the words
"Chairman's draft Report" and insert the words "draft
Report proposed by Mr Andrew Tyrie".—(Mr Andrew
Tyrie.)
Question put, that the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 4 | Noes, 6
|
| Mr Mike Hancock | Mr Peter Bradley
|
| Mr David Ruffley | Dr Lynda Clark
|
| Mr Richard Shepherd |
Mr Ronnie Campbell |
| Mr Andrew Tyrie | Miss Melanie Johnson
|
| Ms Helen Jones
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp
|
Ordered, That the Chairman's
draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.
Paragraph 1 read, as follows:
'The Government Information and Communication Service
(GICS) is the corps of civil servants whose job is to explain
the Government's actions, and ensure their effective presentation.
They do so against the background of a huge expansion in the amount
of coverage given to British politics in the national and international
media. Mr Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's Chief Press
Secretary, described the growth in news programmes over the last
twenty years:
"In 1979 on Radio 4, you had Today, World
at One, PM, the World Tonight, The World This Weekend. On
TV, you had 15 minutes at lunchtime, 20 minutes in the early evening,
and 30 minutes late on... Since then, you have got longer bulletins
at lunchtime and early evening, you have got Newsnight,
the breakfast news, On the Record, Breakfast with Frost, Westminster
Live, News 24, Sky News, Channel 4 News, Powerhouse."
While in opposition, the Labour Party improved its
techniques of presentation and news management to deal with a
news media operating 24 hours a day. When it came into office
it found government press offices which seemed, by comparison,
unsophisticated and inefficient.'
Amendment proposed, in line 10, after 'Powerhouse."'
to insert the words 'The purpose of the Committee's short inquiry
was to gauge the success of the GICS in rising to this challenge
and to identify problem areas.'—(Mr Peter Bradley.)
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 5 | Noes, 4
|
| Mr Peter Bradley | Dr Lynda Clark
|
| Mr Ronnie Campbell |
Mr Mike Hancock |
| Miss Melanie Johnson |
Mr David Ruffley |
| Ms Helen Jones | Mr Andrew Tyrie
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp |
|
Paragraph, as amended, agreed to.
Paragraph 2 read, amended, and agreed to.
Paragraphs 3 and 4 read and agreed to.
Paragraph 5 read, amended, and agreed to.
Paragraphs 6 to 10 read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 11 and 12 read, amended, and agreed to.
A paragraph—(The Chairman)—brought
up, read the first and second time, amended, and inserted (now
paragraph 13).
Paragraph 13 (now paragraph 14) read and agreed to.
Paragraph 14 (now paragraph 15) read, amended, and
agreed to.
Paragraphs 15 and 16 (now paragraphs 16 and 17) read
and agreed to.
Paragraph 17 read, amended, divided and agreed to
(now paragraphs 18 and 19).
Paragraphs 18 to 21 (now paragraphs 20 to 23) read,
amended, and agreed to.
Paragraph 22 (now paragraph 24), read, as follows:
'There are two aspects to the job of the Prime Minister's
Chief Press Secretary. First (as has been seen) he is responsible
for the co-ordination of the way the Government presents itself
to the media. Second he acts as the Prime Minister's spokesman,
briefing journalists (through the twice-daily briefings he gives
to the Lobby) on the Prime Minister's activities and views and
advising the Prime Minister on his relations with the press. Unusually,
for holders of the job, Mr Campbell is neither an administrative
civil servant nor a GICS officer, but a journalist with a Labour
Party background. Indeed between 1994 and 1997 he served the present
Prime Minister as Leader of the Opposition in virtually the same
capacity. He was appointed to his present position as a special
adviser, in order to overcome the principle (set out in the Civil
Service Order in Council in 1995) that ordinary Civil Service
appointments have to be made on the basis of fair and open competition.
However since special advisers are normally limited to giving
advice to Ministers, and cannot manage staff, an amendment was
required to the Civil Service Order to allow him to have a management
function. (The same amendment enabled Jonathan Powell, the Prime
Minister's Chief of Staff, to hold a management position in the
Prime Minister's Private Office).'
Amendment proposed in line 4, to leave out from "press."
to "between" in line 6—(Mr Peter Bradley).
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 6 | Noes, 3
|
| Mr Peter Bradley | Mr David Ruffley
|
| Mr Ronnie Campbell |
Mr Richard Shepherd |
| Dr Lynda Clark | Mr Andrew Tyrie
|
| Miss Melanie Johnson |
|
| Ms Helen Jones |
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp |
|
Question put, That the paragraph, as amended, stand
part of the Report.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 6 | Noes, 3
|
| Mr Peter Bradley | Mr David Ruffley
|
| Mr Ronnie Campbell |
Mr Richard Shepherd |
| Dr Lynda Clark | Mr Andrew Tyrie
|
| Miss Melanie Johnson |
|
| Ms Helen Jones |
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp |
|
Paragraph 23 (now paragraph 25) read, amended, and
agreed to.
Paragraph 24 (now paragraph 26), read, as follows.
'Although it has been claimed in the press that Mr
Campbell acts, on occasion, as a spokesman for the Labour Party,
in addition to acting as the Prime Minister's official spokesman,
Sir Richard Wilson refuted this view: "Alastair Campbell
is not a Labour Party spokesman. I am absolutely clear about that."
There undoubtedly needs to be complete clarity on the extent to
which Mr Campbell is a Labour Party spokesman. Sir Richard
also claimed it could even be helpful that Mr Campbell is "overtly
political" because "everyone knows where he is coming
from". Mr Mountfield said that "the appointment of Alastair
Campbell with an explicitly political role actually clarifies
the position, it is a more honest position, and I think it allows
him to carry out that role in an acknowledged way and there is
less of a grey area in a way than I think there was before".'
Amendment proposed, in line 3, to leave out the words
'There undoubtedly needs to be complete clarity on the extent
to which Mr Campbell is a Labour Party Spokesman'— (Mr
Peter Bradley).
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 6 | Noes, 3
|
| Mr Peter Bradley | Mr David Ruffley
|
| Mr Ronnie Campbell |
Mr Richard Shepherd |
| Dr Lynda Clark | Mr Andrew Tyrie
|
| Miss Melanie Johnson |
|
| Ms Helen Jones |
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp |
|
An Amendment made.
Paragraph, as amended, agreed to.
Paragraph 25 read, as follows:
'These views seem confused. If it is helpful that
the Prime Minister's official spokesman is "overtly political",
it is odd that he should never be a Labour Party spokesman. Mr
Campbell's position is sometimes contrasted and compared with
the position when Sir Bernard Ingham was Chief Press Secretary
to Lady Thatcher when she was Prime Minister. Sir Bernard was
a career civil servant and a government information officer, but
was commonly arguably regarded as being a strong and pugnacious
defender and promoter of the Prime Minister, an advocate, not
of the Conservative Party, but of the Prime Minister's party.
The Committee noted the similarity between Sir Bernard's and Mr
Campbell's evidence as regards the professional obligation to
stand by the Prime Minister even in party matters—for example
the Conservative Party Leadership election in 1990 and the Ecclestone
affair. Whenever the Prime Minister seems to be in difficulty,
the press secretary will stand by him or her. Likewise there is
a striking similarity between the briefing by Sir Bernard against
Francis Pym ("Mona Lott") and John Biffen ("semi-detached")
and Mr Campbell's memorandum to the Secretary of State for Social
Security and the Minister of State.'
Paragraph disagreed to.
A paragraph—(Mr Andrew Tyrie)—brought
up and read, as follows:
'Although there have been a number of claims that
Mr Campbell has gone further than presenting and describing the
policies of the Prime Minister, Sir Richard denied that there
had been any particular instances where he thought that Mr Campbell
had been "getting things wrong". In the absence of any
generally available and impartial account of exactly what was
said at the Lobby briefings, it is easy for inaccurate or exaggerated
stories about Mr Campbell's statements to run in the media. We
asked Mr Campbell whether the briefings were taped. He said they
were, but only for the purposes of preparing a summary that was
subsequently distributed around Whitehall. The tapes are re-used,
so no permanent record exists. We believe that it would be desirable
if tapes of the Lobby briefings were kept for a longer period,
say twelve months, so that they could be used to resolve any conflict
about what had been said. We recommend that tapes of the Lobby
briefings be routinely kept for twelve months'.
Question put, That the paragraph be read a second
time.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 4 | Noes, 5
|
| Mr Ronnie Campbell |
Mr Peter Bradley |
| Mr David Ruffley | Dr Lynda Clark
|
| Mr Richard Shepherd |
Miss Melanie Johnson |
| Mr Andrew Tyrie | Ms Helen Jones
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp
|
Paragraph 26 (now paragraph 27) read, as follows:
'Sir Bernard himself took a very strong line, telling
us that "Alastair Campbell is quite clearly not a civil servant
and in my strong view should not be paid by the taxpayer. He is
a party political appointee and as such should be paid so".
Mr Campbell responded to the point:
"I am the Prime Minister's
Chief Press Secretary and I work for the Prime Minister as the
head of the Government and I promote government policy. For example,
last week at Cardiff at the European Summit, I would have been
briefing as the spokesman of the British Government. Now, that
is not a party role and I think that it is legitimate for me to
be paid out of public funds when I do a job, do that job for the
Government. What would be wrong is if I were using that position
to promote and further the interests of the Labour Party by abusing
that position constantly by attacking your [the Conservative]
Party".
Sir Bernard evidently felt that his own extensive
Civil Service experience gave him the capacity to say "no"
to requests to brief in a party political way, which the current
holder would not have. However he also expressed his regrets about
the briefing against Francis Pym and John Biffen. This shows the
difficulty inherent in the job under its actual day to day pressures.
The issue is therefore whether it is Mr Campbell's previous background
rather than his conduct in his office that has to be tested against
the requirements of the job.'
Amendment proposed, to leave out from line 10 to
the end of the paragraph and insert the words—
'Mr Campbell's position is an unusual one, and one
that does carry the risk of giving an undue advantage to the party
in power. Mr Riddell pointed out (although in the context of the
Strategic Communications Unit, which is dealt with below, paras.
00-00) that "the taxpayer is financing quite a big propaganda
effort which may be strictly within the lines of government and
putting the opposition parties at a disadvantage." We
recommend that political appointees to the Civil Service who are
asked to undertake significant amounts of party political activity
should be paid from party funds and not by the taxpayer. The appointment
of Mr Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, special adviser to the former Minister
without Portfolio, is a precedent for this.'—(Mr
Andrew Tyrie.)
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 3 | Noes, 6
|
| Mr David Ruffley | Mr Peter Bradley
|
| Mr Richard Shepherd |
Mr Ronnie Campbell |
| Mr Andrew Tyrie | Dr Lynda Clark
|
| Miss Melanie Johnson
|
| Ms Helen Jones
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp
|
Another Amendment proposed, to leave out from line
10 to the end of the paragraph and insert the words—
'We also recommend that there should be no further
changes to the Civil Service Order in Council to allow more people
to work as civil servants, managing other civil servants, without
having been appointed in the normal way, on the basis of fair
and open competition. We believe that amending the Order in Council
has blurred the crucial distinction between special advisers and
politically neutral civil servants.'—(Mr
Andrew Tyrie.)
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 4 | Noes, 5
|
| Dr Lynda Clark | Mr Peter Bradley
|
| Mr David Ruffley | Mr Ronnie Campbell
|
| Mr Richard Shepherd |
Miss Melanie Johnson |
| Mr Andrew Tyrie | Ms Helen Jones
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp
|
An Amendment made.
Paragraph, as amended, agreed to.
Paragraph 27 (now Paragraph 28), read, amended, and
agreed to.
A paragraph—(The Chairman)—brought
up, read a first and second time, and inserted (now paragraph
29).
Paragraphs 28 and 29 (now paragraphs 30 and 31) read,
amended, and agreed to.
Paragraph 30 (now paragraph 32) read, as follows:
'The existence of two different officials, responsible
for briefing the press on different aspects of Ministerial policy,
is bound to lead to problems, and there undoubtedly have been
tensions between press officers and special advisers since the
election. These are discussed in the Mountfield Report, which
stresses the importance of co-ordination between them. The problems
may largely be attributed to inexperience after 18 years in opposition.
The FDA wrote that: "Those without much experience of government
have sometimes found it difficult to understand the differing
roles of the GIS and the Labour Party's own press operation".
Peter Riddell made a similar point, although he said that the
rules "need to be more clear". The point seems a fair
one. No guidance exists for special advisers on the proprieties
that they need to observe when talking to the press beyond the
Ministerial Code, which says nothing on the obligation to work
through Press Offices. We recommend that the Government introduce
a code for Ministers and special advisers on contacts with the
press, perhaps as an annex to the Ministerial Code, to give it
the full authority of the Prime Minister. Such a Code would make
clear the obligations on special advisers and Ministers to work
closely with press offices in general, and should insist that
each Minister agree a set of ground rules with the press office
and the Permanent Secretary on what might be dealt with in contacts
with the media, and ensure that it is understood by both categories
of civil servants, permanent and temporary. But any code or guidance
should also stress the importance of co-operation between press
offices, special advisers and Ministers in presenting information
to the public effectively and openly.'
Amendments made.
Question put that the paragraph, as amended, stand
part of the Report.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 6 | Noes, 2
|
| Mr Peter Bradley | Mr Richard Shepherd
|
| Mr Ronnie Campbell |
Mr Andrew Tyrie |
| Dr Lynda Clark |
|
| Miss Melanie Johnson |
|
| Ms Helen Jones |
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp |
|
A paragraph—(Mr Andrew Tyrie)—brought
up and read, as follows:
'There has been some concern that the Government's
interest in presenting its policy to best advantage sometimes
means that it is not announced as it should be, first to Parliament.
We note that the Speaker has expressed her concern at the practice
of briefing in advance of a ministerial statement in the House.
She told the House a year ago that it had been "current for
quite a long time". She said "My impression is that,
over the past 20 years, it has progressively developed to the
point where the rights of the House are in danger of being overlooked.
The House is rightly jealous of its role in holding Ministers
to account. If it is to fulfil its function properly, it must
be the first to learn of important developments in government
policy. I deprecate most strongly any action taken that tends
to undermine this important principle". Mr Campbell
denied that he was responsible for the briefings of which Madam
Speaker complained. The Speaker also said: "I am fighting
a battle over Ministers' tendency to use the media to outline
policy instead of announcing it to the House of Commons".
Mr Campbell in his evidence said in effect that this was not something
he could do much about. Given that Mr Campbell has a leading role
in the presentation of government policy as the Prime Minister's
Press Secretary, we found his evidence on this point unconvincing.
We recommend that the Modernisation Committee of the House
of Commons examine the concerns expressed by Madam Speaker on
the sharp growth in "pre-briefing", that is, the making
of Government announcements, directly or indirectly, before Parliament
has been informed.'
Question put, That the paragraph be read a second
time.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 3 | Noes, 6
|
| Mr David Ruffley | Mr Peter Bradley
|
| Mr Richard Shepherd |
Mr Ronnie Campbell |
| Mr Andrew Tyrie | Dr Lynda Clark
|
| Miss Melanie Johnson
|
| Ms Helen Jones
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp
|
Paragraph 31 (now paragraph 33) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraph 32 (now paragraph 34) read, as follows:
'It was not our role or within our remit for the
inquiry to go into the reasons for the departure of these individuals.
The general pattern revealed by the written evidence is that some
of the press officers concerned believed that their departure
was caused by the desire of Ministers for information officers
to be less neutral than they thought was compatible with their
regular Civil Service terms of employment. It might be argued
that there would be a case for changing the rules by which press
officers are appointed and work to ensure that they are fully
in tune with their Minister. The relationship between Minister
and press officer is inevitably more personal than that between
Ministers and Permanent Secretaries or even their Private Offices.
It is, though, crucial to the success of the Minister in the eyes
of the public and the rest of the Government and Parliament. Policies
have to be promoted successfully to maximise chances of being
successful as policies.'
Amendment proposed, in line 2, to leave out the words
'The general pattern revealed by the written evidence is that'—(Mr
Peter Bradley).
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 6 | Noes, 3
|
| Mr Peter Bradley | Mr David Ruffley
|
| Mr Ronnie Campbell |
Mr Richard Shepherd |
| Dr Lynda Clark | Mr Andrew Tyrie
|
| Miss Melanie Johnson |
|
| Ms Helen Jones |
|
| Mr Fraser Kemp |
|
Paragraph, as amended, agreed to.
Paragraphs 33 and 34 (now paragraphs 35 and 36) read
and agreed to.
Paragraph 35 (now paragraph 37) read, amended, and
agreed to.
Motion made, and Question proposed, That the Report,
as amended, be the Sixth Report of the Committee to the House.
The Committee divided.
| Ayes, 5 | Noes, 3
|
| Mr Peter Bradley | Mr David Ruffley
|
| Mr Ronnie Campbell |
Mr Richard Shepherd |
| Dr Lynda Clark | Mr Andrew Tyrie
|
| Miss Melanie Johnson |
|
| Ms Helen Jones |
|
Ordered, That the Chairman
do make the Report to the House.
Ordered, That the provisions
of Standing Order No. 134 (Select Committees (Reports)) be applied
to the Report.
Ordered, That the Appendices
to the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee be reported
to the House.—(The Chairman.)
* * *
[Adjourned to a day and time to be fixed by
the Chairman.
| 
