Downing Street Says » Alastair Campbell Diaries

» Monday, July 9, 2007

Alastair Campbell Diaries

Asked if the Prime Minister had been briefed on the contents of the book, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister read the papers and followed the news, so none of this was a great surprise.

Asked what the current view was on civil servants keeping diaries and then publishing them, the PMS said that the view was set out in the Civil Service Code of Conduct and the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers (SpAds). The rules stated that civil servants and SpAds must not publish or broadcast personal memoirs reflecting their experience in Government whilst in Crown employment. The permission of the head of the department and the Head of the Home Civil Service must be sought before entering into commitment to publish such memoirs after leaving the service. The PMS added that on specifics, people should speak to the Cabinet Office.

Asked if the PMS was keeping a diary, he replied that he was too busy.

Put that Sir Gus O’Donnell had tightened up the contracts for SpAds coming into Government which ruled this out, the PMS said that it was best to speak to the Cabinet Office about this point.

Put that Sir Gus O’Donnell had made it very clear when he attended a Public Administration Committee hearing that he wanted to end this sort of thing, the PMS replied that he was not a spokesman for Sir Gus, so people should speak to the Cabinet Office.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.