Tony Blair/Catalogs

Persona

 * (the notes are biographical only in respect of their subjects' associations with Tony Blair)

Campbell, Alastair
Journalist and commumications specialist. 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".

Cook, Robin
Politician. Foreign Secretary 1971-2001, Leader of the House of Commons 2001-2003. Resigned over Iraq 2003

Falconer, Charles
Barrister. TB's childhood friend and his flatmate. Lord Chancellor 2003-07.

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

Hunter, Anji
Childhhod friend and Labour party supporter. TB's personal assistant, adviser and office manager 1992-2001. Developed TB's confidence, especially in the period before he became party leader

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

Jenkins, Roy
Former politician. Co-founder of the Social Democratic Party (that was later to merge with the Liberal Party to form the Libeal Democratic Party) who had retired from active politics in 1987. Acted as TB's mentor on economic policy during the period 1995-98.

Kinnock, Neil
Politician. Leader of the Labour Party 1983-92 whose reforms had been "seminal in bringing Labour to power".

Mandelson, Peter
Labour party official. Neil Kinnock's Director of Communications. Originator with TB and Gordon Brown of "New Labour". MP and Cabinet Minister under TB. Author The Third Man.

Milliband, David
Political advisor. TB's Head of Policy 1994-1997. Head of Policy Unit 1997-2001.

Morgan, Sally
Political advisor. TB's Political Secretary 1997-2001 and Director of Political and Government Relations, 2001-2005.

Powell, Jonathan
TB's Chief of Staff 1997-2007. The person with whom TB could talk about policy throughout the day.

Prescott, John
Trade union official turned politician. ""Old Labour". Deputy Prime Minister 1997-2007. Kept TB aware of the views of the party and the trade unions.

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

The machinery of government

 * (describes the machinery of government as it was between 1997 and 2007 and does not refelect subsequent changes)

Cabinet
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
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
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
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.

Joint Intelligence Committee
The Cabinet Office committee that oversees the work of the security services and advises the Government on security matters. Its membership includes the heads of the British intelligence agencies, the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Defence Intelligence Staff, the Chief of the Assessments Staff, representatives of the Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and may include representatives of the United States security sevices.

Leader of the House
The cabinet minister who is responsible for the arrangement of government business in the House of Commons.

Lord Chancellor
Member of the Cabinet. Speaker of the House of Lords. Head of the Judiciary (until 2007)

Policy Unit
Combined with the Prime Minister's Private Office and renamed "Policy Directorate" in 2001, it had a staff of 30 civil servants and special advisors, working together on short- and medium-term policy questions.

Public Service Agreements
The Treasury's performance management system for the public services.

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.

Special advisers
Political advisers appointed on a temporary basis by the government in power. In 2003, the Government had 74 advisers, of which 37 were in the offices of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

Strategy Unit
A team of about 60 civil servants and outside recruits, set up in 2001, that published a range of analyses  of long-term policy issues.

Iraq Survey Group
Report of a joint US/UK inquiry into Saddam Hussein's weapons policy that concluded that he had destroyed his WMD capacity before the Iraq war and that he intended to resume their development after sanctions had been removed.

Phillis inquiry
An independent review of government communications that sought to rectify what it termed a "three-way breakdown in trust between government and politicians, the media and the general public''.