Guide for new Brit ministers includes buying Danish pastries for everybody
By ANIMonday, February 7, 2011
LONDON - A guidebook that was handed to new coalition ministers in Britain last year on how to run the country, has surfaced.
Handbook for Ministers, which has been labelled as an “informal guide to help new ministers work through the challenges of office”, is full of nonsensical jargon.
It was written by Rod Clark, principal and chief executive of the National School of Government and revealed by the Independent on Sunday.
Included in the guide is the advice to politicians to “buy Danish pastries for everybody” on their first day to foster team spirit and build support.
Another tip from the handbook, which has emerged with 22 other training documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws, is to “go for a team lunch”.
The top ten tips given in the Handbook for first-time ministers are:
1. Enjoy it! If you do, it will inspire others as well.
2. Your diary secretary is your new best friend.
3. Prep, prep, prep. Preparation is vital.
4. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Don’t put decisions off - they’re the essence of being a minister.
5. Prioritisation. The department’s priorities and definition of hat is important may differ from your own.
6. Explain Parliament to your private office.
7. Keep your political edge. Don’t get cut off from colleagues.
8. Communicate with your Secretary of State - either through structured catch-up sessions or more ad-hoc.
9. Special Advisers and Permanent Secretaries are not just the ecretary of State.
10. Make space for families - eg. Don’t have red boxes delivered at 7am on a Saturday morning.
George Jones, professor of government at the London School of Economics, was “appalled” at how ministers were being trained.
“New MPs should observe how ministers perform in the Commons. They should not be experts in specific areas of policy or act as managers,” the Daily Mail quoted him as telling the Independent on Sunday.
“We pay their civil servant large salaries with many perks to carry out those functions,” he stated. (ANI)
