Peter Black's blog post today indicates that rule by SpAd has now infected Wales. Extra-parliamentary advisers have always been part of the Westminster scene and, while they have not always been acknowledged, neither have they been allowed to decide policy which was always down to the elected ministers guided by an experienced civil service. The latter may be charged with being resistant to change but they are also the repository of expertise and experience. They also know their responsibilities within the constitutional scheme of things.
The wedge may have been inserted by Mrs Thatcher who openly distrusted the civil service, bringing in her own advisers on economic policy, but it was New Labour who threw open the doors to special advisors. Two groups of them grew up around the offices of prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer. It was these two factions, seemingly more concerned about doing the other down than applying what little knowledge they had to the process of government, which aggravated the split between former friends Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and distorted government policy during the Blair-Brown years.
Now it seems that a good minister has been lost because the same disease has spread to Wales.
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