SPIN CITY
Armies of spin doctors and bloated 'communications staff' are signs of a petty managerialist politics at Holyrood
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EVERY GOVERNMENT has an army of spin doctors at hand, this is part and parcel of the rising professionalisation of our modern politics. Walking behind any given Member of Parliament are staffers and party apparatchiks eyeing every shaking step, ready to jump into action. Misspeaking? By-election? Our politicians today enjoy the benefits - and maluses - of our new interconnected technological age.
Forty years ago, it would be normal to not be able to anticipate what upwards of 100 MPs might say in any given debate. Our politics seemed larger, with figures beholden to their own ideas, values and ideological ‘isms’. Not like today where messaging to politicians about ‘the party line’ is instantaneous, amid a post ideological age of managerialist politics.
Men such as Peter Shore, described by conservative journalist Patrick Cosgrave as "the most captivating rhetorician of the age”1 once strode the political scene. Captivating anyone listening with his left-wing nationalism and fierce opposition to the European Single Market. Women such as Barbara Castle loomed large with characteristic fiery red hair and enthralling oratorical skills; described as “one of the most remarkable women politicians of the last century”2
Others such as Tony Benn, Margaret Thatcher and Michael Foot have continued to dominate their respective political parties and traditions long after they themselves departed the political scene. They led political lives rooted in conviction and principles that emerged from deep ideological thoughts. These were giants.
Everything just seemed larger then, when compared to today. Our politics - perhaps the quality of some of our politicians - has shrunk indelibly smaller.
But then, we live today in the shadow of Francis Fukuyama’s ‘The End of History and the Last Man’. Where the West decadently revels in the notion that we are witness to an end of history, where humanity has reached
“not just ... the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: That is, the end-point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government”3
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union we have been inculcated with the notion that there are no more ideological debates to be had. The death of the political ‘isms’.
But this has coincided with the rapid evolution of technology, economic and cultural globalisation. Suddenly now the world just seems a little bit smaller too. All of this is perhaps one context to explain the rise of the technocratic professional politician. And oh, don’t we have so many managerialists in our nations parliaments (Holyrood and Westminster).
A perfect example of this rise of a managerialist professional politics - devoid of deeper substance - is the Scottish Government eagerly spending millions of pounds on armies of spinners. A series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests have revealed that our Scottish Government has a growing army of spin doctors. In 2018 there were 115 public relations staff on the payroll4, but this has grown to 176 spinners5.
I read in the Times of London today that the financial breakdown of this SNP love of public relations spin doctors is costing taxpayers dear
“The annual bill is now more than £7.4 million a year, with a further £1.3 million for a separate group of political special advisers for ministers.”6
Our Scottish Government has become the largest public relations operation in contemporary Scotland, costing taxpayers around £9m. But what precisely do have have to show for all these ‘experts’ in messaging?
We know that the Scottish Government’s pandemic era ‘FACTS’ information push was an inglorious disaster, with a mere 1% of Scots actually understanding what it meant7. Even as I write this, I myself am unable to pretend even today I fully understand what it meant. But then, I’m in sterling company as less than 2% of all Scots are able to actually name what all five letters of the FACTS acronym stood for8 (Face coverings, Avoid crowded places, Clean hands regularly, Two-metre distance, Self-isolate and book a test if you have symptoms)
But despite this miserable failure, around two-thirds of Scots nevertheless approved of the Scottish Government’s communication during the pandemic. What on earth does that say about how low our expectations of government has fallen? And what on earth are we paying upwards of £9m in Scottish Government public relations and communications staff for? A botched pandemic messaging and communication strategy isn’t proof of value for taxpayers money.
When we look around, how many of us can seriously - hands on heart - look at the current crop of Ministers and Secretaries of State in Holyrood and conclude, there be giants? The truth is, we’re led by mediocrity propped up by machine politics and endless armies of spin doctors.
There are signs the public are increasingly waking up to the inadequacy of our current state of affairs. According to the SavantaComRes Scottish political tracker, the favourability score for the Scottish Government has fallen from +24 (February 11, 2021)9 to just +7 (January 22, 2022) 10
Donald Dewar as legacy left us a parliament. Jack McConnell the smoking ban and sterling work in ending the blight of sectarianism. Alex Salmond (regardless of if you approve or not) can point to a ‘gold standard’ independence referendum. But what can our current First Minister point to? Baby boxes? £9m on public relations staff? Or perhaps the rising child poverty and food insecurity (all impacting long before the pandemic hit).
When the late Donald Dewar spoke at the opening of the Scottish Parliament for the first time, he said
“Wisdom. Justice. Compassion. Integrity. Timeless values. Honourable aspirations for this new forum of democracy, born on the cusp of a new century.
We are fallible. We will make mistakes. But we will never lose sight of what brought us here: the striving to do right by the people of Scotland; to respect their priorities; to better their lot; and to contribute to the commonweal.
I look forward to the days ahead when this Chamber will sound with debate, argument and passion. When men and women from all over Scotland will meet to work together for a future built from the first principles of social justice.”11
Haven’t we fallen so very short of that early promise? The age of political giants has past. Welcome to the era of pigmies.
Obituary, (2001, September 16), ‘Lord Shore of Stepney’, The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lord-shore-of-stepney-9204257.html
Obituary, (2002, May 4), ‘Lady Castle of Blackburn’, Daily Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1393098/Lady-Castle-of-Blackburn.html
Fukuyama, Francis (1989). "The End of History?", JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24027184
ScotGov (2019, April 23), ‘Scottish Government - communications and public relations staff numbers and costs: FOI release’, https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-00799/
ScotGov (2022, February 16), ‘Scottish Government communication staff: FOI release’, https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202200269219/
Allardyce, Jason (2022, February 20), ‘Scottish government pays £9m for spin’, Sunday Times, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scottish-government-pays-9m-for-spin-jkgcxqht0
Ibid
‘Covid Scotland: Less than 2 per cent of Scots know 'FACTS' acronym’ (2021, December 19), The Herald, https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19794936.covid-scotland-less-2-per-cent-scots-know-facts-acronym/
Scottish Political Tracker, (2021, February 11), SavantaComRes, https://comresglobal.com/polls/scottish-elections-tracker-11-february/
Scottish Political Tracker, (2022, January 22), SavantaComRes, https://comresglobal.com/polls/scottish-political-tracker-january-2022/
Dewar, Donald (1999, July 1), Donald Dewar’s speech at the opening of the Scottish Parliament, https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/history/donalddewarsspeech1july1999.pdf