Glasnost at No 10
No 10 is expected on Tuesday to radically overhaul the way it communicates with the media.
An announcement is expected on David Hill, the man likely to take over from Alastair Campbell, the PM’s director of communications, who finally ended nine years at the post on Friday.
Downing Street hopes to draw a line under the apparently defunct “culture of spin.”
But newspapers over the weekend suggested Mr Campbell and the chief architect of spin, Peter Mandelson, would continue to enjoy an informal role advising the PM behind the scenes at Downing Street.
Mr Mandelson, a twice resigned cabinet minister, is reported to have played a significant part in forming plans for the so-called “Department of Truth” and has held meetings to discuss strategy and communications with Mr Campbell each week for the last 18 months.
It is also reported that Mr Mandelson last week met with the Tony Blair at Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country house retreat, to discuss the new glasnost.
Downing Street may announce plans to create a new Whitehall department, headed by an independent permanent secretary, to better regulate the outflow of Government information; an apparent bid to distance itself from criticism that No 10 is irredeemably tarnished by media manipulation.
Critics point out the obvious: an independent permanent secretary would still have to report to No 10.
New Labour’s image makeover comes as Bob Phillis, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group, prepares to deliver an interim report on Tuesday on the political fallout from the Jo Moore scandal.
Ms Moore, a special adviser to former Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, resigned after her “bury bad news” comments in the wake of the 11 September atrocity in 2001.
Mr Hill was a member of Mr Phillis’ team.
Other changes at Downing Street may include the departure of Tom Kelly, one of the PM’s official spokesman, who labelled Dr David Kelly, the highly regarded Iraqi weapons expert, as a Walter Mitty-type character.
Andrew Adonis, the head of New Labour’s policy unit, could be replaced by a friend of Mr Mandelson, Matthew Taylor of the Institute for Public Policy Research.
Yesterday, Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith in The Independent on Sunday said New Labour’s spin obsession would not be eradicated by the simply changing a few faces.
Responsibility for spin lay in the PM’s lap as well, he said.
“The whole Downing Street machine reports to him. New Labour is not just a cast of miserable characters, it’s a culture – a culture of deceit. The machinery of spin and deceit powers Blair’s government,” Mr Duncan Smith said.
