Ben Yong is Associate Professor in Public Law and Human Rights at Durham Law School, UK.

Viewers of The Thick of It will know of special advisers as spin doctors and political careerists. Several well-known ministers have been special advisers, among them David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Jack Straw and Vince Cable. People also know about the public relations disasters involving Jo Moore, Damian McBride and Adam Smith. But what is the reality? What do special advisers actually do in government? Who are they, where do they come from, and why are they needed?
This book is the most detailed study yet carried out of special advisers. The Constitution Unit's research team, led by Dr Ben Yong and Professor Robert Hazell, assembled a comprehensive database of over 600 special advisers since 1979. They conducted written surveys, and interviewed over 100 special advisers, ministers and officials from the past thirty years. They conclude that special advisers are now a permanent and indispensable part of Whitehall, but are still treated as transient and temporary. The book concludes with practical recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of special advisers through improvements to their recruitment, induction and training, support and supervision, and strengthening their accountability.

1. Why Study Special Advisers?
Ben Yong
2. Special Advisers and British Government
Ben Yong
3. Who are Special Advisers?
Ben Yong
4. What Special Advisers Do for Ministers
David Laughrin
5. Special Advisers and the Policy-Making Process
Peter Waller
6. Special Advisers and Communications
Peter Waller
7. The Regulation, Accountabilities and Responsibilities of Special Advisers
Ben Yong
8. The Comparative Experience of Political Staff: Westminster Jurisdictions and Ministerial Cabinets
Ben Yong
9. Improving the Performance of Special Advisers
Robert Hazell
10. A Profession Comes of Age
Robert Hazell
Appendix 1: Methodology
Max Goplerud
Appendix 2: Further Work on the Distribution and Tenure
of Special Advisers
Max Goplerud
x Contents
Appendix 3: The Post-government Career of Special Advisers
Anna Sellers
Appendix 4: Biographies