But you were a backbench MP only five years ago, said Annie.
I was an exception, I explained. I was the cream. Thats why I rose to the top.
Annie wanted to know if I thought my answers would shut them up. I dont think so. They never shut up. But, I said to her with a shrug, theres no choice. The country just wont accept pay rises for MPs when were cutting back on nurses and teachers.
Nurses and teachers? Annie looked worried. Thats much more serious, isnt it?
Sometimes I think Annie has learned nothing about politics. No, Annie, I said wearily, much less serious. Nurses and teachers cant vote against me till the next election -- backbenchers can vote against me at ten oclock tonight.
March 10th
As I predicted, I had a very stormy meeting with my backbenchers. They said all the things I said theyd say and I said all the things I said Id say, and they said that I should remember that I wouldnt be able to say anything to anyone if I lost the support of my own backbenchers.
I called Humphrey in afterwards. I told him that if Id had some notice I might have softened them up a bit in advance.
He agreed that the lack of notice was regrettable.
Which meant that he hadnt taken my point. Its up to you, Humphrey, I emphasised. Youre Secretary of the Cabinet. You must insist we get papers circulated earlier.
Humphrey hung his head. Alas! There are grave problems about circulating papers before they are written.
So if the papers werent written, why werent they written? I scowled at Humphrey. Surely the Treasury must have seen this coming?
Prime Minister, replied Sir Humphrey with a shrug, I am not Permanent Secretary of the Treasury. You must ask Sir Frank.
What would he say? I asked.
Humphrey shrugged again. It is not for a humble mortal like me to guess at the complex and elevated deliberations of the mighty. But in general I think Sir Frank believes that if the Treasury knows something has to be done, the Cabinet should not have too much time to think about it.
I was furious. But thats an outrageous view.
Yes, he said with a smile, its known as Treasury policy.
Suppose, I asked, that the Cabinet have questions to ask?
I think that Sir Franks view, said Humphrey carefully, is that on the rare occasions when the Treasury understands the questions, the Cabinet does not understand the answers.
I was getting furiouser and furiouser. Do you support this? I asked bluntly.
Humphrey looked truly amazed. I, Prime Minister? I merely try to carry out the wishes of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
I instructed Humphrey that it is my wish that, in future, all papers are circulated at least forty-eight hours before Cabinet meetings. I told him to tell Sir Frank.
Humphrey said he would do so with pleasure, and that he would seek an audience with him at once. He left.
The regal phraseology did not escape me. He clearly thinks Frank is getting too big for his boots. Unless he is still worrying about my threat last week to make Sir Frank head of the Home Civil Service. Of course! Thats why hes so disloyal to Frank at the moment.
I wonder if I should put him out of his misery. Do I gain anything by keeping them both in suspense? Yes, I gain an anxious and co-operative Cabinet Secretary.
[Later that day Sir Humphrey Appleby met Sir Frank Gordon, Permanent Secretary of the Treasury, at the Reform Club in Pall Mall. Sir Humphrey made a note about the meeting in his private diary Ed.]
Frank and I discussed the late arrival of Treasury papers for Cabinet this week, and the short notice of the information concerning the economic crisis.
Frank expressed a hope that I had explained that the short notice was due to Americas sudden change in policy over interest rates. I assured Frank that I defended him gallantly, leaving the Prime Minister in no doubt as to the real cause of the rush.
Frank was delighted with this reply. He is less subtle than I would have expected.
He was concerned that we do not lose the PMs goodwill at this time. With the financial crisis, we shall obviously have to bring in some form of pay restraint. Unfortunately, the MPs are being denied the pay rise they have been expecting just at the moment that Frank is due to bring forward the proposed Civil Service pay rise.
This is indeed awkward. Obviously one is not interested in the pay rise for oneself. The last thing Permanent Secretaries care about is the money. We could all have made a fortune if wed gone into industry. Money is money, and service is service.
Nevertheless, Frank and I are both in full agreement that we owe it to our junior colleagues to do everything we can for them.
Ironically, trying to help them will involve raising our own salaries -- about which we dont care at all -- and then we get criticised for feathering our own nests. Still, that is just another cross we have to bear.
[This passage from Sir Humphreys diary is most intriguing. Was he really able to convince himself that in pushing for a large Civil Service pay rise, in which he and Sir Frank would get the largest cash sum, he was acting altruistically? Or was he so cautious that everything he wrote, even for his own private diary, could withstand scrutiny if stolen and leaked? Ed.]
I urged Frank to put our pay proposal in fast, before any pay restraint begins. It is also clear that it must go in the night before next Thursdays Cabinet -- if Ministers have two days to spend talking about it to backbenchers and political advisers theyll come up with all sorts of objections.
Frank was worried about bouncing Cabinet two weeks running. I assured him that there was no alternative.
Frank then suggested that it would be better if the proposal came from both of us. I can see why -- there is safety in numbers. However, he gave as his reasons that we are effectively joint heads of the Civil Service.
Needless to say, this is not a view that I accept. The Cabinet Secretary is the de jure head of the Service. Frank chooses to believe that, a he looks after the financial side and I look after the Establishment side, we are both de facto heads of the Service.
He seemed eager to pursue this discussion, as if to prove a point. I simply avoided it by informing him that, in my view, I must remain aloof and judicial on the matter of Civil Service pay. I told him that it would be fatal, for the Service, if I lost the PMs confidence. [Fatal for Sir Humphrey too, as he was well aware Ed.]
I encouraged Frank to make the running and assured him that when the time was ripe I would come down on his side.
Frank had another worry, this time quite legitimate. Quite rightly, he does not want the Cabinet to adjudicate on the claim.
We decided that it should be referred to an impartial committee, as usual. The question was: who should chair it? We agreed that Arnold [the retired Cabinet Secretary] should be in on it, but it seems improbable that the Cabinet will approve an ex-Civil Servant as an impartial chairman of a committee to decide upon Civil Service pay.
I suggested Professor Welsh. Frank has heard that he is a silly old buffer. Be that as it may, Welsh has asked me to put his name forward as the next chairman of the University Grants Committee. So he will understand what is required of him.
Frank agreed that Professor Welsh would be an excellent choice.
[Appleby Papers BA/281/282]
[Hackers diary continues Ed.]