Chapter 39 Section 2 Machine Politics

It is said that when Ted Heath was named deputy governor of Parliament in 1950, he asked Lord Swinton, a senior politician of the Conservative Party, whether to accept the post, "Get into this machine first - no matter how humble the rank is. ’ said Lord Swinton.Ted took this advice to heart.And I, as the leading component of this machine, naturally cannot forget this sentence when my foothold is not stable.With this in mind, I set out to control the machine. Airey, Neve and I are determined to reform the Conservative Party Central Headquarters.According to the party constitution, the central headquarters is the office of the party leader. Some incidents that happened during the leader's election convinced me that it would be very difficult for some staff there to continue to work in their original capacity under me.

I think what we need from a central headquarters chair is an efficient manager.A man who is best connected to the business world, a man who is true to me.I have always admired Peter Thornycroft.His courageous resignation in 1950 over public spending problems heralded a wrong turn for the postwar Conservative Party.He has been part of the old-timers leading the party since he entered Parliament, and as the president of several large companies, Peter is the first choice in my opinion.But how to convince him?It was later discovered that Willie Whitelaw had a past with him, and Willie persuaded him to accept the job.The job was strenuous even for a man much younger, since the party chairman had to boost morale even in times of deep party slump, which occurred more than once.In addition, another problem for Peter is that at this stage, most of the rural party members have only reluctantly accepted my leadership.This situation did not gradually change until after the party's annual meeting in 1975.It took a little longer - and after some painful and controversial personnel changes - to make me feel that the leaders at Central Headquarters really wanted to serve me.Peter gradually replaced some people with loyal ones, and I never asked him how he did it.

The appointment of Alistair McAlpine as party treasurer has certainly helped.The two current treasurers, Lord Ashdown and Lord Chelmer, have both told me they have decided to resign.Alistair, who was treasurer of the "British in Europe" faction during the referendum campaign, has the personality, energy and connections for the job, suggests Elay Neave.He was right.Although Alistair is a hardcore Conservative from a family of Conservative Party members, he has had to quickly transform himself into a politician.I told him he would have to ditch his German Mercedes for a British Jaguar, which he did right away.But what I didn't tell him was to be prepared for a whole host of minor and annoying mishaps at Central Headquarters; Man, despite our Heath-style totalist policies over the years, our party is still a free enterprise party worth supporting.

Some expected me to make a bigger change in the Conservative Research Department.Conservative Research is technically a department of Central Headquarters, but it has its own uniquely important role, especially in opposition.This is mainly because it is physically separated from the central headquarters (on Old Queen's Back Street) and has a glorious history academically.In a sense, the Policy Research Center was established as an alternative to the Research Department.And now that I am the leader, Conservative Research and the Center for Policy Research should work together.I know Chris Patton, head of research, is on the left of the party, and there's a lot of nastiness and competition between the research department and the Center for Policy Research that, in the eyes of many on the right, is epitomized by the Tory research department. This one-size-fits-all approach to consensus has led us astray - in Keith Joseph's words, "stuck in the middle ground" - and I've decided to replace it with Angus Maud, who can work with Keith on policy issues Ian Gilmour became chairman of the research department, leaving Chris Patton as director and Ted's former adviser Adam Ridley as his deputy.These are clever tricks.I appreciate the ministry's work, especially now that it has taken on the role of the Shadow Cabinet Secretariat, which goes beyond policy making.Despite occasional shadows, Conservative Research gradually moved in the direction Keith and I had established.

Meanwhile, Elay Neve and I were looking for a small team to run my office.The day after the leadership election results, I met with Ted's secretaries, who were visibly upset.I also sensed a certain animosity, which is understandable.I appreciate their loyalty.I ask them to stay and work if they think it's possible.It turned out that most stayed, at least for a while.At that time, the Parliamentary Office of the Leader of the Opposition, which is now the Office of the Home Secretary, consisted of one large room, an outer reception room which could serve as two secretaries, and several smaller rooms upstairs.The space here is small, and it is very stuffy in summer. (It was only in the summer of 1976 that we moved into a much larger house which had once been used by the Council of the Guards. During this office I was active. The reliable constituency secretary Alison Ward joined The secretarial staff I inherited from the Ted days.)

After the leader was elected, a flood of letters arrived, sometimes as many as 800 a day.Although the girls from Central Headquarters came over to help with the mail, it was usually the job of my four secretaries.They sat on the floor in the main room, unpacking and sorting the letters.They did their best, but they remained hopelessly disorganized.Later, Alistair McAlpine suggested that I ask David Wolfson to run the mail section.Alistair figured that if David, who had once been the head of the mail department at a General mail-order store, couldn't sort out the mess, no one could.In fact, whether it was during the opposition party or later at No. 10 Downing Street, David's talents were more widely used than sorting out letters: he had insight into the intentions of the business community, provided important connections, and was especially good at politics.

But I also needed a full-time chief of staff who had to be hardworking, dependable, and, with so many speeches, articles, and letters to write, someone who had to be literate.My old friend and colleague Bill Deeds, who happened to be transferred to the Telegraph editor, recommended Richard Ryder, who was then working on The Telegraph's elegant lace column Peterborough. Richard came to me at the end of April and began working with one of the secretaries I took over from Ted, Caroline Stephens, who became Caroline Ryder. Richard Ryder manages this small office very efficiently on a small budget.It is like a happy boat, a few happy people work together to achieve a better cause.Matthew Parris, who responded to letters, showed a talent for sketching later in his work for The Times; on the eve of the 1979 election campaign, a woman objected to our sale in a plaintive letter The policy of public housing, at the same time tell their own complaints.Matthew told her how lucky she was to enjoy the home that we and other taxpayers paid for.Like Queen Victoria, I didn't find this reply interesting - especially when the Daily Mirror published the letter early in the campaign.But Matthew pulled through.

A month after Richard came, Gordon Reese was sent to work with me for a year.He was joined by my full-time staff by the electrical and utility company to help with news, among many other things.Gordon is a godsend, and with his brilliant sense of humor that never fails, the fiery ex-TV producer always makes me cheerfully say yes to things I might say no to others.His point is that if we want to promote our ideas, we must not only pay attention to the big newspapers such as "The Times" and "Daily Telegraph", but also pay equal attention to medium-selling newspapers, such as "Daily Mail". And the Daily Express and—that's the real revolution—emphasize the Sun and News of the World.Furthermore, he argues that even newspapers that support Labor in their editorials will be willing to do us justice if we really intend to provide them with interesting articles.He is right on both points.The Sun and News of the World later played an important role in conveying Conservative values ​​to traditional non-Conservative voters.The left-wing Sunday Mirror also gave me equal and comprehensive coverage, no matter how much its editorial articles criticized us.Gordon spoke regularly with newspaper editors.He also persuaded me that it was me who they really wanted to see and hear from.So whatever was on my schedule later on, whenever Gordon said we had to have lunch with an editor, that was the number one priority.

Another thing Gordon did was also extremely important.Every politician has to figure out how to change their demeanor and image to suit the media, and it might sound brave and dignified to refuse to budge, but it is very likely that you will be seen as a public figure if you do this. Either not wanting to take power seriously, or, more ridiculously, a lack of the aesthetic of feigned humility.Using his experience in TV, Gordon suggested that I change my hair and clothes to improve my impression. "Avoid most jewelry near the cheeks. The corners of the face work well in the shot. Be careful not to overtone the background color with your outfit."This is indeed a science.

There is also my voice problem.When speaking in the House of Commons your voice has to be heard over the noise.This is even more difficult for people with high-pitched voices, because when you raise the volume, you can't help but go out of tune.This becomes a prominent problem for most women.You have to learn to design sounds without squealing.Even when speaking outdoors to an audience, my voice was an automatic high-pitched door, which could easily become harsh.I've been told this before, and I've deliberately lowered my voice.The unfortunate result was that while my voice may have been felt by the audience, I developed pharyngitis—a problem that is even more serious for anyone who speaks frequently to the public.Gordon got me a specialist who said the first thing to do is to breathe properly and then to speak with the front of the mouth instead of the back of the throat.She was a genius, and I benefited immensely from her, with a sympathy and understanding of my problems that only her sickly kitten could have.Unfortunately, the cat happened to get sick before I started the class and had to cancel the class, luckily, I love cats too, so we made it all the way through.

Once Gordon took me to Sir Laurence Olivier to see what he could do.He was very polite and said that it is important that I look at the audience with good eyes.Also said my voice was just right, which - no thanks to the cat - might be true now.More importantly, he knew the difference between taking someone else's lines and stepping into a character someone else had designed, and delivering a speech that reflected his own point of view and designing his own personality.Indeed, after our conversation, I became interested in the technical similarities and differences between political speakers and actors.For example, I was later told that most stage performers would rather not see the audience submerged in darkness, but would rather hear the reflections from the audience, but no matter what kind of public forum I am in, I always insist that we must be able to see and feel at the same time. Being able to hear people's reactions to what I was saying so I could speed up or slow it down, or add what I later named "applause lines" (i.e. lines that used to get a lot of applause) when things weren't going well .So even in the dimmed hall, Gordon always tried to make sure I could see the first few rows of the audience when I spoke. It took me months to get this all right.But overall, I've never had a bad time here.However, the real political test for the opposition leader is yet to come.