Department

State. If they are seen to know their mind, then
civil servants can use them as sounding boards
as they develop policy. I have yet to meet a
civil servant who wants their months of policy
work to be rejected by a Secretary of State.
Much is written about the apparent
antagonism between SpAds and civil servants.
But I did not witness much of this in my
time in government. Rather, most advisers
recognise that there is no way they can have
the depth of knowledge on the department’s
work that civil servants have. And they
may need to call on this at very short notice,
especially when your policy is the main
political story of the day and leading the news.
This was particularly true during 2007’s
Road Pricing petition. Over 1.8 million
signed the Downing Street website petition
calling for the Government to scrap its policy.
The fact that it misrepresented our policy
did not matter. We were leading the main
news programmes and the focus of the lobby
briefing. You are trying to control a story
and fielding multiple requests for briefings
from No10, MPs and the press as the story is
evolving. A SpAd can only do their job if they
are working with the civil service not against
them.
I look back on my time at the Department
for Transport with real affection and feel
privileged to have been a special adviser.
There are very few jobs where you can
combine the ability to make a difference
with real intellectual challenge and the
opportunity to work with so many bright and
committed people.
Anthony Vigor is Director of Policy and
External Affairs at National Express.
He was Douglas Alexander’s Special
Adviser at the DfT from 2006 to 2007
March 2013 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 51