‘Try to identify how much trouble you will personally be in’: Inside government at a time of crisis
Those in Westminster have revealed what it is like to be at the heart of government on the eve of the release of an explosive dossier following the release on Wednesday of the first tranche of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.
Former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara and former special adviser to Boris Johnson, Cleo Watson, hostIndependent‘s weekly political podcast in the roomuses their time in government to reveal how decisions are made.
In this week’s episode, airing at midday on Friday, March 12, they discuss the release of the first documents surrounding Lord Mandelson’s appointment, months after his former Labor colleague was forced to leave office when the full extent of his relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was revealed.
The dossier, which shows the Prime Minister was given clear warnings about Mandelson’s links to Epstein, comes after MPs last month ordered the government to release tens of thousands of documents related to the 2024 appointment following questions about how his precedent was scrutinised.
When asked what happened in government before such a dossier was released, Ms MacNamara said: Independent: “Usually what it does in the beginning is to send a message to everyone involved saying, by the way, you saw this. Don’t delete anything.
“Then it’s too late. You should have done this yesterday.”
“So, as soon as you have [to the point where] We need to publish all information obtained, the point at which this is truly legal is the point at which this is passed. If you haven’t deleted it before this time, you shouldn’t delete it now either.”
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At a time like this, when communications could be made public or scrutinized as part of a review, Ms MacNamara said the mood among those working in Whitehall and Downing Street would be “grim”.
“You don’t let people panic out there,” he said. “You get people to start worrying.
“There are people who look back at themselves [communications].
“So really the first thing you do, if you feel like you’re not getting yourself to victory, the first thing you do is ‘check in.’ [search] your own belongings that you have access to.
“Try to determine for yourself how much of a problem I would personally encounter, as this will help you understand how balanced you need to be in your response.
According to Ms MacNamara and Ms Watson, people were “frantically” checking key dates and details of relevant parties to see if they were personally involved.
Ms Watson said: “You can use your own WhatsApps. For example, when there’s a leak investigation or something, that feeling that you’ll get a message to the journalist saying there’s been a leak and you think, I don’t really know that person. I don’t have a contact on my phone. Thank God.”
And of their responses to these various situations, Ms. MacNamara said: “If you know you’re being completely open, then you often say ‘oh, that looks awful.’ If you’re not open, you’ll say something like ‘that’s totally out of proportion.'”
“If you’re not really clear, dare I say you’re going to resign from the government, which is clearly something a lot of idiots are doing. [special advisers] I did,” added Ms. Watson.
in the room Every Friday is a frank, insider analysis with a dose of humor. This podcast is part of The Independent Podcast Network and is produced in association with Next Chapter Studios.
