Monday, July 27, 2009

Lord Lester: My GOAT hell

Lib Dem peer Anthony Lester has an article in tomorrow's Guardian about his unhappy period as an adviser to Jack Straw:

Apart from being unpaid and independent, none of my conditions of appointment was met. I and my gifted team worked with a junior minister, Michael Wills, and a team of able and loyal civil servants. I saw Straw rarely to discuss policy. I was not given some key papers in sufficient time to have an input.

I was never invited to attend a meeting across government departments, still less to attend a cabinet committee. My advice was received politely, but it was unacceptable to a conservative justice secretary preoccupied with the crisis in our prisons and tinkering with Lords reform.

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