Peter Cardwell reviews Tales Of The Unelected by Dan Corry
Most senior officials in Whitehall and beyond have some understanding of what special advisers (SpAds) actually do – but more junior civil servants often see them as a remote or alien species.
Myths develop about these powerful figures within departments, fuelled by the often wildly inaccurate and unrepresentative portrayal of them in the media and in TV dramas.
The most notable fictional example was the BBC series The Thick Of It. A SpAd also had a fleeting appearance in Yes, Minister and everyone I know in Whitehall and Westminster loved The West Wing (featuring, of course, a number of fictionalised American political appointees). Another BBC series called Political Animals some years ago dramatised political researchers, as did the TV thriller Bodyguard.
On the principle that life in Eastenders’ Albert Square might bear some resemblance to what life is like for people who live in East London, there is certainly some truth – and universality – in these accounts. Indeed, as a SpAd for three-and-a-half years in four departments and working on two elections for the Conservatives, I had my fair share of moments that could have been represented in The Thick Of It (if less so in The West Wing). But it’s rare to find a fictional work as realistic as Tales Of The Unelected, former SpAd Dan Corry’s book of short stories published in the summer.
Those on the inside know that the vast majority of what is broadcast and written about SpAds is a far cry from what they actually do and what they are like. Part of the reason I wrote my own book The Secret Life of Special Advisers was to redress this balance and it is, I know, part of why Dan Corry wrote his. Mine was factual, Corry’s is fiction.
Corry wrestles ably with the dilemmas SpAds face in scenarios which are very close to reality. As a Special Adviser who worked primarily on policy during the 1997 to 2010 Labour administrations, he is well placed to know the policy work of SpAds particularly. He clearly draws on his own experiences and many of the stories will be familiar both to his peers and to civil servants.
His prose won’t make Robert Harris lose much sleep, but I found the writing engaging and, even for someone who worked in this world for many years, I found the book enhanced my understanding of the role.
Corry’s criticism of some SpAds is unsparing, particularly where he highlights some of their more unedifying political compromises. There is humour, too: I smiled when I read a fictional SpAd’s internal monologue when a civil servant disagreed with his proposal to his Secretary of State: “Ian always hated the kind of leaden, emotion-free language that old hand civil servants used. Obsequious, yet evasive and dishonest at the same time. It always made him want to throw up or to scream.” I’ve been that soldier, Dan. (And, as we know, no SpAd would ever be evasive or dishonest…)
One of the short stories, ‘Education, Education, Education’, is a particularly well observed tale about a SpAd pushing hard for a policy that is eventually abandoned. In my experience, the civil servants I could do business with – regardless of their personal politics, which I never knew or asked about – were the ones who appreciated the realities of the political situation in which we SpAds and ministerial teams found ourselves.
Those who do appreciate those realities will identify with that and enjoy these stories. Those who do not, for whatever reason, should find them instructive, such as this SpAd’s reflection in the education short story: “Darren knew it was like that in the real world of politics; risks too high, so opportunities forgone, rightly or wrongly. Complex ideas ditched in favour of those that resonate on the doorstep. Decisions made on the basis of the power of the court around the PM, not necessarily on objective grounds. He knew it, but sometimes it was hard.”
There are some weaknesses in the book, not least an apparent lack of diversity. It takes Corry until page 94, for example, to include any character who doesn’t have an Anglo-Saxon name. The later stories – including the strongest one about a Fathers4Justice-style group attacking a fictionalised Education Secretary – are stronger and more resonant than the early ones. And some parts may be a bit complex for the general reader.
That said, while I certainly recommend it for people who work, or have worked in the Civil Service at any level, I also hope the more general reader gives it a try. The role and reputation of SpAds in the public mind has been distorted by works of fiction (as well as bad reporting) – it would be nice to think this particular work will help redress the balance.
Tales of the Unelected by Dan Corry is available online, or from all good bookshops. RRP £7.50
Peter Cardwell, previously special adviser to Secretaries of State in the Northern Ireland Office, Home Office, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and Ministry of Justice.
His book, The Secret Life of Special Advisers, is published by Biteback. He is a presenter on the Talk network and frequent political commentator in broadcast and in print domestically and internationally.
