SPADS AND ALL THAT

by RAY FLEMING
IN Looking Around in this paper yesterday I wrote that, having failed to apologise from the start, Gordon Brown would be ill-advised to offer a “too little-too late apology that evades the issue.” Yet that is exactly what he has done - eventually writing personally to the Conservatives slurred in Damian McBride's e-mails to say that he understands their concern, but failing to offer the apology to which, on all the evidence, they are entitled. At the same time, Mr Brown wrote to the Head of the Civil Service, Sir Gus O'Donnell, asking him to tighten up the code of conduct for special advisers (like Damian McBride) to prevent another incident of the e-mails kind. Since Sir Gus is also Cabinet Secretary it is probable that he sees or talks to the prime minister every day and it is not clear why a formal letter was necessary-- except that it could be released for publication to show Mr Brown's concern. In fact, though, the existing guidelines would have prevented Damian McBride from dreaming up his e-mails if he had felt that he was obliged to observe them. Although the position of “spads” (special political advisers) in relation to civil servants is often delicate at the point where politics and governance meet, the system has generally worked well since Edward Heath first introduced it. The odd thing about Mr McBride is that he was a career civil servant before Mr Brown spotted him and subsequently made him a special adviser.