New Special Advisers announced

An amusing pair of Special Advisers - but the real ones aren't like that, surely?

AFTER a government reshuffle, the next thing politicos tend to watch for is who becomes the Special Advisers to Ministers. Special Advisers perform a key role in supporting Ministers in their political work and are liaison points with parties, civil servants and the broader political world. They are the creatures of their masters or mistresses, and some tend to bark more loudly than others.

Within the Welsh Assembly Government there are a number of SPADs allocated to both Plaid Cymru and Labour. All of them work to the First Minister officially, but are then allocated specific roles and policy responsibilities. Thus when Rhodri Morgan resigned as First Minister, all of the SPADs in WAG went too. One of Carwyn Jones’ first acts as First Minister was to reappoint the old team, with one change resulting from the departure of the very able Jane Runeckles. Steve Jones, Carwyn’s media campaign manager during his effective leadership campaign, became a SPAD back in December with responsibility for media relations. Congenial, experienced and shrewd, he is generally reckoned to have been a good appointment and has got off to a strong start.

The three Plaid SPADs were among those reappointed in December and nobody expected any change there. Thus Rhuannedd Richards, Anna Nicholl and Simon Thomas returned to their former roles immediately, supporting the four Plaid Ministers in government.

Damian McBride, perhaps the most infamous UK SPAD of recent years

What has been less clear is what would happen to the five other Labour SPADs. All of them were reappointed in December, but it has been rumoured for some time that a few might depart. We now know the answer. Three Labour SPADs remain in post, though with some tweaks to roles for some of them. Sophie Howe is working on Assembly business, local government and social justice; while Ian Butler remains, as an education specialist, an adviser to new Education Minister Leighton Andrews. Jo Kiernan moves sideways, though, giving up her previous media role and instead taking on the role of health SPAD and also the new – and possibly critical – job of coalition manager between Labour and Plaid. Is WAG expecting trouble or just looking to avoid a repeat performance of last November?

Two Special Advisers are departing the team. Mark Drakeford, the senior SPAD throughout Rhodri Morgan’s tenure and arguably the most influential person on the left in Welsh politics over the past decade, leaves a role he has performed with distinction. Though I doubt he will disappear from the political scene. Jeff Andrews, who has focused on finance and public services and is known as a clever chap, departs to become a specialist policy adviser within the civil service. This is a non-political role.

Which leaves two gaps which will be filled by two experienced hands, though that experience was gained in other roles. Laurence Conway, a former civil servant who headed the previous First Minister’s office before retiring last year, becomes a special adviser with responsibility for public service delivery. In this post he will work directly with the First Minister, who has assumed responsibility for this policy area.

The second new face – or not that new to anyone inside the bubble of Welsh politics – is Andrew Bold. He becomes the senior special adviser to WAG, making him effectively the head of the team. Andrew is one of the great survivors of Welsh Labour politics, and deservedly so. A policy wonk (and I mean that in the nicest way), his manner and depth of character are as far removed from a Malcolm Tucker as it’s possible to be. For a decade or so he has served both Paul Murphy and Peter Hain as special adviser to the Secretary of State for Wales as they alternated in the role. Prior to that he was Policy Officer at Welsh Labour. I can’t for the life of me recall who followed him to that post…

The changes in total may not appear radical and wholescale but, like Carwyn’s choice of government, there is a sense of mixing experience with a refresh in some key roles. It has the feel of a team that’s here to stay – until May 2011, anyway.

The departure of Andrew Bold, of course, leaves a gap for a new Special Adviser to Peter Hain. Step forward David Taylor, who leaves Leighton Andrews’ office to take on this key role in the run up to the General Election. It strikes me as a shrewd move on Peter’s part to bring in a good strategist at this stage which will strengthen Labour’s core team ready for the ballot box. And that electoral contest will come a lot sooner than May 2011.