There's no doubting how frantic and all-consuming Jeremy Corbyn will have found his first few weeks as Labour leader – and his situation is far from unique. Here, former private secretary Dunstan Hadley considers what he’d say to those who suddenly find themselves running a political party or a government department
Like many ministers and political leaders before him, Jeremy Corbyn has been thrust into an important role without much executive experience or responsibility under his belt. After years of seeing his situation from the other side, here are my tips for a new minister or leader…
Get some systems in place
If a junior minister's office is incredibly busy – with tons of information, demands and requests coming at you from all directions – it must be horrific for the Leader of the Opposition. You need order, a routine and systems or you'll never be able to cope when things get hairy. New ministers often struggle because they themselves don’t know how they work best. To figure this out as soon as possible, here are some questions for you to think about:
- Are you a morning person or do you work better later in the day?
- Do you like to get through your paperwork work in short bursts throughout the day, or do it all in one go at night (or even first thing in the morning?)
- Do you like breakfast/lunch meetings?
- Do you like short or long meetings, and do you like meetings with a just a few people or larger scale discussions?
- Do you like long or short notes? And do you like to be presented with options, or recommendations, or a bit of both?
Based on your answers your office can work out a system that suits your way of working. They will also let others know what you want and how you want it, so that you can get down to work as soon as possible.
Related content:
Special advice: What's it really like being a spad?
Seven things every government press officer knows are true
Time flies: What’s it really like managing a minister’s diary?
Prioritise, and make sure other things don't get in the way
With all due respect you can't change the world. “Events” will get in the way. Getting any reform through is hard work and pretty thankless. Focus on the things you most want to achieve (as long as you can see a clear path to doing them) and don't do anything unnecessary that distracts you. The rest of the world will be trying to throw you off course. Don't help them. Don't pick fights you don't need to have. Settle on a small number of things that are most important to you and make them happen.
Be pragmatic
Once you've got your priorities you need to work hard to make them happen, but don't lose sight of the goal. Then be prepared to be flexible about how you get there. Big public service structures are hard to reform. Machinery of government changes are costly, distracting and bad for staff morale. Your ultimate focus is, I assume, on improving healthcare, education, transport etc. If the patient, the pupil, the commuter will really benefit, it might be worth embarking on big structural changes. If not, find other ways to make improvements. The last thing most public staff need is more structural reform for the sake of it.
Find advisers who can argue with you
Once I was sitting at my desk in the minister's outer office while next door the minister and a special adviser screamed at each other over a policy issue. Such was the force of their argument I thought someone would end up resigning. It then went quiet and the conversation carried on as normal. Five minutes later they came out joking about something on the news that day. Their relationship had space for them to rage at each other and be frank. They had both made their points, forcibly, and then moved on to the next subject. It's important you find some people like that.
Move quickly with your ideas
Every politician promises to do things in a new way, to listen to the public and open up their policymaking. If you are really serious try and do it quickly. I'm sure politicians are earnest when they champion bottom-up/open policymaking – but for many it's already too late. As ministers or shadow ministers they've already become part of a system of policymaking that generates ideas from the top. Wonkery is already part of their DNA and there's a good chance some of them worked for think tanks or were spads – so it's hard to really let go.
If you truly want to open up policy, get going – and really do open it up to all views. It's not a bad time to try, the civil service has been doing lots of open policymaking recently, and are getting really good at it.
Don't hate the press
When I was a government press officer I initially didn't really like journalists. I thought they were just troublemakers out to get us and as a consequence I was probably far too defensive. I soon realised that they were hard-working, smart, savvy and had a job to do. You don't need to trust them and you don't need to agree with them. You should fightback when they're attacking your policies – but don't hold them in contempt. The press isn't going away. Work with them where you can, fight them when needed but try and build a working relationship with them.
Get a hinterland
Your life is never going to be the same. The press, your advisers, your MPs and the public are going to demand your attention every day. There will be very little respite. You need to have a way of clearing your mind. Find out what it is and make sure you build in some time for it. But please, don't make it something a) illegal or b) controversial. This will save you from having embarrassing conversations with staff and colleagues when the press do eventually find out…