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The Secret Life of Special Advisers
“A cracking read by a great writer.” – Chris Mason, BBC political editor
“A rare, fascinating and funny look at life in the corridors of power.” – Isabel Hardman, author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians and Spectator assistant editor
“It’s the book we have long needed.” – Michael Crick
“A timely look at how some of the key relationships in Westminster work, and how they sometimes misfire.” – Laura Kuenssberg, BBC presenter and former political editor
***
Shadowy geniuses whispering, Rasputin-like, into the ears of our elected politicians under a cloak of secrecy, or a crucial but undervalued cog in the machinery of government? … Or just a rag-tag band of weirdos and misfits?
Despite the acres of speculation devoted to special advisers from Alastair Campbell to Dominic Cummings, their role is much misunderstood. Who are the people Piers Morgan once called ‘these miserable little creatures’ and just how much influence do they have?
Peter Cardwell served as SpAd to four Cabinet ministers, acting as media adviser, political fixer, troubleshooter and occasional wardrobe consultant. In this candid, compelling and frequently hilarious insider account, he reveals what the job really involves, from dealing with counter-terror emergencies in Cobra to explaining to the Justice Secretary what a dental dam is, to having your inside leg measured in a government office.
Packed with advice on navigating the perks and pitfalls of the job, The Secret Life of Special Advisers will inform and entertain anyone who has ever wondered what these mysterious figures really do all day.
“A rare, fascinating and funny look at life in the corridors of power.” – Isabel Hardman, author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians and Spectator assistant editor
“It’s the book we have long needed.” – Michael Crick
“A timely look at how some of the key relationships in Westminster work, and how they sometimes misfire.” – Laura Kuenssberg, BBC presenter and former political editor
***
Shadowy geniuses whispering, Rasputin-like, into the ears of our elected politicians under a cloak of secrecy, or a crucial but undervalued cog in the machinery of government? … Or just a rag-tag band of weirdos and misfits?
Despite the acres of speculation devoted to special advisers from Alastair Campbell to Dominic Cummings, their role is much misunderstood. Who are the people Piers Morgan once called ‘these miserable little creatures’ and just how much influence do they have?
Peter Cardwell served as SpAd to four Cabinet ministers, acting as media adviser, political fixer, troubleshooter and occasional wardrobe consultant. In this candid, compelling and frequently hilarious insider account, he reveals what the job really involves, from dealing with counter-terror emergencies in Cobra to explaining to the Justice Secretary what a dental dam is, to having your inside leg measured in a government office.
Packed with advice on navigating the perks and pitfalls of the job, The Secret Life of Special Advisers will inform and entertain anyone who has ever wondered what these mysterious figures really do all day.
279 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 14, 2021
3.5 *s. A bit dull, and clearly Cardwell is trying hard to keep all his doors open by being sycophantically nice about everyone he talks about. A few amusing insights- although nothing devastating... could benefit with a lot more gossip!!
October 18, 2022
I really enjoyed this book, which I felt was a light-hearted, funny account of time spent in politics from a perspective we rarely see. As the title suggests, the world of the SpAd is shrouded in mystery, operating in the shadows as they do, so this insider story from an author who doesn’t take himself too seriously was much needed.
On a more serious note, one thing that really did come through was Cardwell’s close friendship with James Brokenshire - reading this after his passing, this took on a rather poignant feeling. Overall, would defo recommend for anyone interested in the world of these back room political operators.
On a more serious note, one thing that really did come through was Cardwell’s close friendship with James Brokenshire - reading this after his passing, this took on a rather poignant feeling. Overall, would defo recommend for anyone interested in the world of these back room political operators.
April 20, 2026
Disappointingly low information density.
The book is an account of Cardwell's SpAd-ing career between Westminster and Whitehall during the May and Johnson premierships, as well as going over a bit of what it means to be a spad more generally.
One of the good qualities of the book is that its written in a way that makes you FEEL like a spad. It's informal and jokey, focusing a lot on the day to day, government to government rhythm of spad life. It also does a good job capturing the drama and cortisol spikes of defections, bad interview etc.
But it's this jokey tone that makes it so frustrating to read. For me the book was enraging corroboration of much of Dominic Cummings' critique of Britians political class. Not a single character seems to actually care about or even think about policy/implementation questions. The MP he mostly works with seems like a really pleasant home counties man, but he clearly had no strong options about anything. Even the policy Spads (secretaries of state have a media spad and a policy spad generally) did not seem to particularly care. What MPs and Spads do seem obsessed with, as DC repeats ad infinitum, is media coverage and optics. The big focus is did I get a nice thing said on me in page 30 of the Sun online so maybe I can be moved to a slightly higher profile department next reshuffle. There is absolutely no interest in long term objectives or even making the right policy choice. Media is reality.
And again, it's a common critique, but the movement between departments at all levels makes you want to pull your hair out. Spads MPs and civil servants move between policy areas what seems to be every year, an issue Cardwell acknowledged at the civil service level, but not at the secretary of state or spad level.
Although the book is sometimes funny and Cardwell and colleagues seem like jovial, smart people, towards the middle it just became frustrating. Given the extricating succession of amateurish premierships, a political class that is never fully sincere, that always undercuts something they do with a self deprecating quip does not ender me to the characters in this book. I understand Cardwell is trying to make it fun and accessible, but the fact there's more about his diet coke fridge than policies he pushed through says a lot.
It is important to caveat this with the fact this book is from the perspective of a media spad, whose job it is to deal with and control media coverage of their secretary of state, not advice the sec on what policies to pursue. But even the media coverage was more about """ovengate""", a """scandal""" involving his sec owning two ovens than coverage of actual issues involving the department.
Another frustration is that despite this book having a gossipy, tell all tone, it doesn't really deliver on any salacious moments. I'm sure many such things happened, but I imagine Cardwell understandably doesn't want to burn down any bridges.
I wish this book tried to explore the interesting questions about the structure of the spad role. Is it a good way to bring experise into departments? Should there be more political or civil service advisors? What makes a good spad? Some of these questions were hinted at at the beginning, with the book starting with a long chapter going through the history of Spads. Unfortunately, the chapter was more of a standalone Wikipedia entry. The context it gave was never really referenced in the rest of the book, and the chapter itself was almost entirely descriptive, failing to make it clear what they were listing all the prominent Spads in each decade.
And there are so many interesting questions about the role of spad as it currently exists. One big surprise was that secretaries of state for most departments generally only have 2 Spads, which seems like vanishingly few relative to the sometimes tens of thousands of civil servants in a department. In terms of giving secs the manpower to implement what they want done whilst also having enough people to fight the inevitable political fires, is 2 really enough? It seems strange to me that you'll have so many top level civil servants on hand for a given sec but so few of their own people. Why not trade some civil servants who are paid the same for some political people? I understand there is a tradeoff between having not enough civil servants, who provide a moderating force and area/dept specific expertise, and having not enough political appointments, where it becomes difficult to have people who "get" what you are doing, or who are fully loyal and not too imerssed in the blob. Somewhere between the US executive appointment system, where the top say 3% of an agency are presidential political appointments and the UK 2 spad system seems optimal, where say each sec can bring in 10 Spads, instead of having an office of 2 Spads and 30 civil servants they didn't choose or necessarily use.
Again I know it's meant to be a more fun book so Cardwell didn't need to have included a white paper on government reform, but the flaws are so apparent from reading this that I can't help but wish he did.
The book is an account of Cardwell's SpAd-ing career between Westminster and Whitehall during the May and Johnson premierships, as well as going over a bit of what it means to be a spad more generally.
One of the good qualities of the book is that its written in a way that makes you FEEL like a spad. It's informal and jokey, focusing a lot on the day to day, government to government rhythm of spad life. It also does a good job capturing the drama and cortisol spikes of defections, bad interview etc.
But it's this jokey tone that makes it so frustrating to read. For me the book was enraging corroboration of much of Dominic Cummings' critique of Britians political class. Not a single character seems to actually care about or even think about policy/implementation questions. The MP he mostly works with seems like a really pleasant home counties man, but he clearly had no strong options about anything. Even the policy Spads (secretaries of state have a media spad and a policy spad generally) did not seem to particularly care. What MPs and Spads do seem obsessed with, as DC repeats ad infinitum, is media coverage and optics. The big focus is did I get a nice thing said on me in page 30 of the Sun online so maybe I can be moved to a slightly higher profile department next reshuffle. There is absolutely no interest in long term objectives or even making the right policy choice. Media is reality.
And again, it's a common critique, but the movement between departments at all levels makes you want to pull your hair out. Spads MPs and civil servants move between policy areas what seems to be every year, an issue Cardwell acknowledged at the civil service level, but not at the secretary of state or spad level.
Although the book is sometimes funny and Cardwell and colleagues seem like jovial, smart people, towards the middle it just became frustrating. Given the extricating succession of amateurish premierships, a political class that is never fully sincere, that always undercuts something they do with a self deprecating quip does not ender me to the characters in this book. I understand Cardwell is trying to make it fun and accessible, but the fact there's more about his diet coke fridge than policies he pushed through says a lot.
It is important to caveat this with the fact this book is from the perspective of a media spad, whose job it is to deal with and control media coverage of their secretary of state, not advice the sec on what policies to pursue. But even the media coverage was more about """ovengate""", a """scandal""" involving his sec owning two ovens than coverage of actual issues involving the department.
Another frustration is that despite this book having a gossipy, tell all tone, it doesn't really deliver on any salacious moments. I'm sure many such things happened, but I imagine Cardwell understandably doesn't want to burn down any bridges.
I wish this book tried to explore the interesting questions about the structure of the spad role. Is it a good way to bring experise into departments? Should there be more political or civil service advisors? What makes a good spad? Some of these questions were hinted at at the beginning, with the book starting with a long chapter going through the history of Spads. Unfortunately, the chapter was more of a standalone Wikipedia entry. The context it gave was never really referenced in the rest of the book, and the chapter itself was almost entirely descriptive, failing to make it clear what they were listing all the prominent Spads in each decade.
And there are so many interesting questions about the role of spad as it currently exists. One big surprise was that secretaries of state for most departments generally only have 2 Spads, which seems like vanishingly few relative to the sometimes tens of thousands of civil servants in a department. In terms of giving secs the manpower to implement what they want done whilst also having enough people to fight the inevitable political fires, is 2 really enough? It seems strange to me that you'll have so many top level civil servants on hand for a given sec but so few of their own people. Why not trade some civil servants who are paid the same for some political people? I understand there is a tradeoff between having not enough civil servants, who provide a moderating force and area/dept specific expertise, and having not enough political appointments, where it becomes difficult to have people who "get" what you are doing, or who are fully loyal and not too imerssed in the blob. Somewhere between the US executive appointment system, where the top say 3% of an agency are presidential political appointments and the UK 2 spad system seems optimal, where say each sec can bring in 10 Spads, instead of having an office of 2 Spads and 30 civil servants they didn't choose or necessarily use.
Again I know it's meant to be a more fun book so Cardwell didn't need to have included a white paper on government reform, but the flaws are so apparent from reading this that I can't help but wish he did.
December 1, 2022
Interesting read - didn’t know much about SpAds or the important role they play in the background of UK politics. Although this book follows a Conservative SpAd, gives a good insight into the running of politics in the last ten years, specifically from right wing politics. Would be interesting to compare how they talk about SpAds and the running in left wing politics.
January 26, 2024
Interesting, but more like a guide about the job than interesting tidbits of gossip about the inner workings of government in this period.
October 13, 2021
Heroically tepid.
February 27, 2024
He quotes Matthew Parris as describing him as "a bit folksy" and that couldn't be more true. This book has about as much edge as an orange.
There are a few how-to insights on the nexus between political journalism and client PR, a little bit of interesting history (researched by someone else, and based on a PhD), and a couple of anecdotes worth the cash. But it all just comes across as blandness from someone hedging their bets, and keeping everyone on side.
There are far better books by insiders (or by journalists or academics about insiders). Definitely don't come looking for any assessment of policy, characters, or Worth a read if you're really obsessive, or a Tory, or looking to get into the business
There are a few how-to insights on the nexus between political journalism and client PR, a little bit of interesting history (researched by someone else, and based on a PhD), and a couple of anecdotes worth the cash. But it all just comes across as blandness from someone hedging their bets, and keeping everyone on side.
There are far better books by insiders (or by journalists or academics about insiders). Definitely don't come looking for any assessment of policy, characters, or Worth a read if you're really obsessive, or a Tory, or looking to get into the business
November 23, 2024
Interesting insight into life in Westminster and the role of SpAds. Unfortunately it also seemed to jump about a lot, often referencing people by first name only that he hadn’t talked about for a chapter or so. Would have benefited from stronger editing by someone who doesn’t know Westminster and so could have pointed out where it was becoming hard to follow.
The first few chapters were fascinating but I eventually gave up.
The first few chapters were fascinating but I eventually gave up.
April 1, 2022
Really useful book from one of the busy bees in the corridors of power. Excellent on media management and the humanity of those working in and around Parliament. He's gone back into journalism now, which seems a waste of a politically engaged talent.
January 7, 2023
Interesting insight, but found him fairly unfunny and was a bit cringe as it seemed he thought he was... he recalled one joke he put in a speech and was bigging it up so much, so I looked up the speech and the joke was met with silence lol
February 27, 2026
Was an amazing read with a great insight into the life behind the scenes in Westminster which is of great interest to me as a young wannabee political commentator with an interest in the inner workings of government! Peter is a great, funny and interesting author.
April 26, 2021
It gives you a taste of what it's like to be in one of these currently notorious positions. But just a shallow one - don't expect any big revelations or political secrets.
May 13, 2023
Wonderfully well-written, knowledgeable, and often funny. A good insight into the world of SpAd's!
August 19, 2023
I couldn’t put this book down. Fascinating insight into not just the life of Special Advisors but also the May and Johnson’s Government.
March 26, 2026
This felt like insider gossip, but sadly overall seemed lacking a proper insight into the life of SpAds.
May 11, 2025
Felt like a loose collection of anecdotes that varied in entertainment value from the career of a UK government insider.
The author seemed more concerned with trying to impress their own importance or “insiderness” upon the reader.
I didn’t really get anything from it bar some funny moments
The author seemed more concerned with trying to impress their own importance or “insiderness” upon the reader.
I didn’t really get anything from it bar some funny moments
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews