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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

It is pleasure to agree with almost everything that the hon. Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins) has just said. [Interruption.] I hope that I am not doing him any harm in doing so. It is sad that the idea of the special adviser was first invented to assist Ministers and civil servants, so that such a person could play a hybrid role between the civil servant and the political office and political duties of the Minister. I do not think that this is declaring an interest, but I should say that I was a special adviser from 1990 to 1994. I recall very well the mostly unwritten code that we observed carefully. There was no question in those days of special advisers telling civil servants what to do. I know that the Lord Chancellor would agree with my comments—were he in the Chamber—and those of the hon. Member for Luton, North, because he was one of the first special advisers when he worked for the then Mrs. Barbara Castle. He undertook that position with the same distinction that he has shown since, and there was no doubt whatsoever as to what special advisers did. What is sad is the fact that, as the hon. Member for Luton, North described, the Government decided in 1997 to change the role of special advisers and almost overnight increased their number from 38 to 70 and more. More importantly, they changed their role and allowed special advisers to give instructions to civil servants, thereby undermining the position of civil servants. It is a pity that we cannot have a full debate on that this evening. We have only five minutes left and I shall curtail my remarks so that others will have an opportunity to speak, but I would have liked a full debate on that very issue. The fact that I cannot demonstrates that what my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) said when we debated the programme motion earlier this evening has proven to be totally correct. We could have gone on debating this tomorrow, because it is a very important matter.