Tony Blair/Catalogs

Persona

Campbell, Alastair

Journalist and commumications specialist. Born 1957. Political editor Daily Mirror, 1989-93. Spokesman for TB 1994-2003. Author The Blair Years, 2007.

"Campbell's exuberant personality was the most powerful force in Number 10 from 1997 to 2003" .

Gould, Phillip

Political adviser to Neil Kinnock and Tony Blair. Used focus groups to provide them with advice about what the public was thinking .

Irvine, Derry

Lawyer. Born 1940. TB's law tutor. Lord Chancellor 1997-2003. "Derry taught me how to think"

Thomson, Peter

Australian Anglican priest. Born 1936. TB's "friend, teacher and mentor"

The machinery of government

Cabinet[1]

Assembly of the Secretaries of States (heads) of the major government departments, chaired by the Prime Minister, and formerly (pre 1979) the Government's senior decision-making body. (Seldom used for that purpose under Margaret Thatcher and hardly ever by TB).

Cabinet committees

Specialised sub-committees of the Cabinet.

Cabinet Office[2]

Committee consisting of the Permanent Secrataries (top civil servants) of the major goovernment departments, the function of which is to coordinate the execution of the government's policies.

Cabinet Secretary

Head of the civil service and constitutionally the link between the Prime Minister and the civil service machine. (A service that TB seldom used).

Civil Service

Long-term government employees, each of whom is assigned to a government department and is only to the Secretary of State (political head) of that department.

Delivery Unit[3]

Set up by TB in 2001 to progress the execution of his decisions by government departments.

Focus group

Typically, a 2-hour informal discussion among a group of about 20 selected voters. Used to obtain an indication of more considered perceptions than can be obtained from opinion polls.

Government Information Service[4]

Otherwise known as the Central Office of information. An interdepartmental organistion staffed by civil servants whose function is to provide objective information about all aspects of government.

Royal Prerogative

Decision-making powers, formally reserved to the Monarch, that are in practice exercised by the Prime Minister without the need for parliamentary assent. The powers include the appointment of Ministers, the calling of elections and the declaration of war.

References

(References, with page numbers, to Tony Blair's memoirs (Tony Blair: A Journey, Hutchinson, 2010) are shown as "Journey (xxx)", and references to Anthony Seldon's biography (Anthony Seldon: Blair, Free Press, 2004) are shown as "Blair (xxx)".)