Former Downing Street adviser Theo Bertram gives insight into New Labour's Saturday night ritual conference call in series of tweets
The moral of the story? Always be Jane
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A former Downing Street adviser has offered a revealing insight into the inner workings of the New Labour governments and their approach to the media.
Theo Bertram, former adviser to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, took to Twitter to tell the story of "The Call", a late-night conference call between high level No 10 staff and politicians.
Every Saturday night at 10:30pm those invited, including press officers, special advisers and the Prime Minister’s staff, would dial in to the Downing Street switchboard.
But, according to Bertram, there were rules.
Step 1: You had to get the jargon right.
The reason for this secret call at an ungodly hour every week was to digest the Sunday papers and prepare the defences against the inevitable attacks. To not have to say anything in the call was a good sign as it meant your department was not in the Sunday papers’ firing line.
But to be in on the time-zone-busting call was the greatest honour...
Step 2: You had you put your phone on mute.
According to Bertram, this was often the biggest problem in "The Call". However many times muting was requested, someone would ruin it for everyone. Usually 'Jane'.
And then there were the ministers.
Prescott was not on mute and made his opinions known, according to Bertram.
But, obviously, the most important issue was that it was a Saturday night. To drink, or not to drink? Bertram chose the professional (/weekend-ruining) route.
But he broke soon enough.
And the moral of the story? Always be 'Jane'
Bertram’s former colleague Iain Bundred, who was a Downing Street spokesperson, agreed
But it was too much for former Deputy Chief of Staff at No.10 Gavin Kelly
Being 'Jane' never damaged the career of Bertram. He ended up staying with Brown until the bitter end (playing the part of Nick Clegg in television debate preparations) and is now the policy head for Google in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
John Prescott is yet to comment.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments