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Report finds 89% of spads built careers in Westminster bubble
11th April 2011 at 0:00:00 by Civil Service World
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An investigation into government special advisers (‘spads’) has revealed that some 89 per cent of the coalition’s spads have worked in their party HQ or for an MP. The recruitment of spads directly from party jobs – mainly in media relations – makes a striking contrast with Labour’s spads: in 2009, just 37 per cent of spads had previously worked in the party HQ, for an MP or as a spad for another minister, with many coming from charities, unions, journalism and council jobs. About 14 per cent of Labour spads had worked for trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party, though there is some overlap with the 37 per cent figure.
Within the coalition, every one of the Liberal Democrat special advisers has worked for their party or an MP, while 86 per cent of Conservatives have the same experience.
Where coalition special advisers have experience outside party politics, it is often in professions closely connected to Westminster: 11 per cent have worked in lobbying, and 19 per cent have worked for think-tanks. Among Labour’s spads, these figures are similar: nine per cent had worked in lobbying, and 20 per cent in think tanks.
Journalism is also a popular feeder profession, and a common career trajectory is to move from a newspaper into a communications role for a political party. Among coalition spads, 11 per cent have been journalists – the same figure as among Labour spads. Despite the PM’s Big Society agenda, we have found only one coalition spad who’s worked for a charity; among Labour spads, nine per cent had worked in the voluntary sector.
The data was gathered by contacting special advisers, speaking to their current and former colleagues, and scouring reliable internet sources. These comparative figures exclude Number 10 special advisers, because our 2009 Special Report did not profile all of them. Only special advisers working in departments shaping policy have been included: spads for the leaders of the House of Commons and House of Lords, chief whip and party chairman have been excluded.
In total, 65 spads are profiled in our 2010 research. The comparative figures examine 47 from the coalition government, and 46 from Labour.