10 Downing Street - Dods Monitoring

transparent will help shine a spotlight upon its
failings. This is all worthwhile, in his view, if
it makes public officials more accountable and
responsive.
The prime Minister became visibly
energised in his old friend’s presence and was
content to take forward many, but by no means
The departure of this
hyperactive iconoclast will make
the world a duller, rather plain
vanilla kind of place
all, of Steve’s great schemes. Cameron adopted
a Chinese menu approach – taking some blue
skies transformation from here and a bit of hard
headed political pragmatism from over there.
personally, Dave and Steve have always
been close. During my time at No10, they
would regularly come together for brief
moments of gossip and mild plotting.
66 | THE HOUSE MaGaZiNE | april 2012
So why has he gone? While the personal
reasons are genuine, there is also an underlying
frustration that, ultimately, David Cameron
is not up for wholesale radical change.
interestingly, it was only a few weeks ago that
andrew Cooper, Cameron’s pollster and strategy
adviser, was telling Tory Mps that, in the run
up to the next election, the emphasis must be on
“grip and competence”, not “frightening talk of
transformation”. (i wonder how that “grip and
competence” strategy is coming along?)
i’ve no doubt the Hiltonater will return
– more likely, perhaps, to focus on the party
manifesto for 2015 rather on a Downing
Street role. Until then, the departure of this
hyperactive iconoclast will make the world a
duller, rather plain vanilla kind of place.
Mark Flanagan was Head of Strategic & Digital
Communications in Downing Street from 2008-10 and
is now a Partner at Portland
www.portland-communications.com
Close allies….but did Steve Hilton eventually tire
of Cameron’s instinctive small ‘c’ conservatism?