Book Review: Ben Yong and Robert Hazell, Special Advisers: Who They Are, What They Do and Why They Matter
| Published date | 01 February 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929916668284 |
| Date | 01 February 2017 |
| Author | Andrew Scott Crines |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsBritain and Ireland |
146 Political Studies Review 15 (1)
assertion that Locke wrote his Two Treatises to
justify the Revolution settlement (p. 146).
While the author’s concerns about judicial
over-reach are valid concerns, his argument is
not a convincing one. As historical claims, the
principles summarised in the book are not gen-
erally disputed – parliamentary sovereignty
‘has long been regarded as the most fundamen-
tal element of the British Constitution’ (see
Goldsworthy (2001), The Sovereignty of
Parliament, p. 1). But from this it does not fol-
low that Canadian courts have no power to
strike down legislation. Canada has a written
Constitution, and it has long been a principle of
English law (and presumably the BSOG) that
courts are entitled to invalidate legislation
which exceeds the limits of the powers of the
relevant law-making body.
CHS Fifoot once wrote that legal history
needs to be disinfected from the disease of pur-
pose. This work is a textbook example of how
readily history written to serve a polemical
purpose is bad history.
Benjamin B Saunders
(Deakin University)
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929916666774
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Special Advisers: Who They Are, What
They Do and Why They Matter by Ben Yong
and Robert Hazell. Oxford: Hart Publishing,
2014. 290pp., £25.00 (h/b), ISBN 9781849465601
This book represents a highly significant and
seminal study of the role of special advisers in
British politics since 1979. The research is com-
prehensive and consists of over 100 interviews
of former ministers, advisers and other relevant
officials. Furthermore, the arguments within the
book are informed by a database of over 600
special advisers, thereby demonstrating their
longevity in modern politics. The authors also
note the paradox at the heart of this relationship,
with convention seeing advisers as merely tem-
porary despite their permanence at the centre of
the political decision-making process.
Yong and Hazell also based their research
upon a series of high-profile interviews with
former advisers. This enabled them to exploit
the first-hand experiences of those in ‘the
thick of it’. Consequently, the book is thor-
oughly researched throughout, thereby pre-
senting a solid foundation for its intellectual
arguments.
The conclusion of Yong and Hazell’s
research is that the role of special advisers
should be embraced. This challenges the notion
that the role of special advisers, like speech-
writers, is to be kept hidden from the public.
The authors also argue that by acknowledging
their role at the heart of the political process,
advisers can be supported and trained rather
than feared and eschewed. This would enable
the public understanding of politics to improve
and also dispel the myths created by satirists
that special advisers have simply a negative
impact upon British politics.
This book will be of significant interest to
scholars of British politics. Students hoping to
embark on a political career will also find a
great deal to interest them in this book.
Furthermore, the book will also interest those
with a more general interest in the workings of
Parliament and beyond. Indeed, it must be
noted that as the role of special advisers contin-
ues to grow, they will increasingly be recog-
nised in the devolved institutions as well as at
Westminster. As such, this book would make an
excellent addition to all those with an interest in
UK politics.
Andrew Scott Crines
(University of Liverpool)
© The Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1478929916668284
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Europe
Parliamentary Communication in EU
Affairs: Connecting with the Electorate?
by Katrin Auel and Tapio Raunio (eds).
Abingdon: Routledge, 2014. 160pp., £90.00 (h/b),
ISBN 9780415815383
How do national parliaments make use of their
communicative function to bring the European
Union (EU) closer to the citizens? This ques-
tion is the overarching theme of this edited vol-
ume by Katrin Auel and Tapio Raunio, which
is a collection of articles previously published
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