We believe that these diaries accurately reflect the mind of one of our outstanding national leaders; if the reflection seems clouded it may not be the fault of the mirror. Hacker himself processed events in a variety of ways, and the readers will have to make their own judgement as to whether any given statement represents
(a) what happened
(b) what he believed happened
(c) what he would like to have happened
(d) what he wanted others to believe happened
(e) what he wanted others to believe that he believed happened. (查看原文)
No potential Cabinet Minister ever moves more than twenty feet from the telephone in the twenty-four hours following the appointment of a new Prime Minister. If you haven’t heard within twenty-four hours, you’re not going to be in the Cabinet. (查看原文)
By the end of today I’ve heard on the grapevine that Bill’s got Europe. Poor old Europe. Bill can’t speak French or German. He hardly even speaks English, as a matter of fact. Martin’s got the Foreign Office, as expected, Jack’s got Health and Fred’s got Energy.
I told Annie of these appointments, and she asked me if anyone had got Brains. I suppose she means Education. (查看原文)
[We found a memo from Sir Andrew Donnelly, Permanent Secretary of Agriculture, to Sir Arnold Robinson, Secretary to the Cabinet, imploring Sir Arnold to make sure that Hacker did not get Agriculture as he was too ‘genned up’ on it. Cabinet Papers show that Sir Arnold managed to convey to the PM that it would be better for Hacker not to go to Agriculture because ‘he’s been thinking about it rather too long and is perhaps in a bit of a rut’ – Ed.] (查看原文)
‘A drink, Minister?’
I nodded. ‘Jim,’ I said, as I want us to be on first-name terms.
‘Gin?’ he said, mishearing me.
‘No,’ I said, ‘Jim. Call me Jim.’
Bernard said: ‘If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather call you Minister, Minister.’
‘Minister, Minister?’ It reminded me of Major Major in Catch-22. Then I realised what he meant. I asked him, ‘Does that mean I have to call you Private Secretary, Private Secretary?’
Bernard said I was to call him Bernard. I’m sure that in the course of time I’ll persuade him to call me Jim. (查看原文)
‘I believe you’ve met before,’ Bernard remarked. I was struck for the second time how well-informed this young man is.
Sir Humphrey said, ‘Yes, we did cross swords when the Minister gave me a grilling over the Estimates in the Public Accounts Committee last year. He asked me all the questions I hoped nobody would ask.’
This is splendid. Sir Humphrey clearly admires me. I tried to brush it off. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘Opposition’s about asking awkward questions.’
‘Yes,’ said Sir Humphrey, ‘and government is about not answering them.’
I was surprised. ‘But you answered all my questions, didn’t you,’ I commented.
‘I’m glad you thought so, Minister,’ said Sir Humphrey. I didn’t quite know what he meant by that. I decided to ask him who else was in the Department.
‘Briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Und... (查看原文)
Bernard then told me that they have two types of chair in stock, to go with two kinds of Minister – ‘One sort folds up instantly and the other sort goes round and round in circles.’ On second thoughts, perhaps that was another of Bernard’s little jokes. (查看原文)
I decided that the time had come to be blunt and to tell them what’s what. ‘Frankly,’ I said, ‘this Department has got to cut a great swathe through the whole of the stuffy Whitehall bureaucracy. We need a new broom. We are going to throw open the windows and let in a bit of fresh air. We are going to cut through the red tape and streamline this creaking old bureaucratic machine. We are going to have a clean sweep. There are far too many useless people just sitting behind desks.’
I became aware that I was actually sitting behind a desk, but I’m sure that they realised that I was not referring to myself. (查看原文)
The day started with the diary. I found to my surprise that there were numerous appointments in it already. I asked how this was possible, since they didn’t even know who would win the election.
Bernard said: ‘We knew there’d be a Minister, Minister.’ I told him not to start that again.
Sir Humphrey explained, ‘Her Majesty likes the business of government to continue, even when there are no politicians around.’
‘Isn’t that very difficult?’ I asked.
‘Yes . . . and no,’ said Humphrey. I must say, I can’t see how it’s possible to govern without the politicians. (查看原文)
[It is interesting to observe that senior civil servants, perhaps because they have spent thirty years writing notes in the margin of a memo or minute, only write in the margin even if there is nothing else on the page – Ed.] (查看原文)
I sounded Arnold out about the American Ambassador – rumour has it he has been spending a lot of time with the PM.
Arnold confirmed this. But was unwilling to say whether it was about defence or trade. He is anxious about a leak – therefore it is imperative that the Cabinet doesn’t hear about it yet.
I concluded, correctly, that it is defence and trade, i.e. the new aerospace systems contract.
The aerospace contract would be a considerable coup for the PM, less than two weeks after the election. Of course, it’s been in the pipeline for months, but the new PM will obviously take the credit.
It will mean four and a half billion dollars, and many new jobs in the Midlands and North-West. All in marginal seats, too – what a coincidence! (查看原文)
we are calling the White Paper Open Government because you always dispose of the difficult bit in the title. It does less harm there than on the statute books.
It is the law of Inverse Relevance: the less you intend to do about something, the more you have to keep talking about it. (查看原文)
Bernard claims that the citizens of a democracy have a right to know. We explained that, in fact, they have a right to be ignorant. Knowledge only means complicity and guilt. Ignorance has a certain dignity. (查看原文)
the Light-in-the-Refrigerator Syndrome, i.e. is the light on when the door is shut? The only way to find out is to open the door – in which case the door is not shut any more (查看原文)
