George Jones was Emeritus Professor of Government at the London School of Economics from 2003 until his death on 14 April 2017. He was also Professor of Government at LSE between 1976 and 2003. He authored, co-authored and edited a number of books, chapters and articles on British central and local government, including the biography of Herbert Morrison, B. Donoughue and G.W. Jones, 'Herbert Morrison: Portrait of a Politician' (London Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973) and (London: Phoenix Press, 2001).
He wrote about advising the Prime Minister and Cabinet in J. M. Lee, G.W. Jones and J. Burnham, 'At the Centre of Whitehall' (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998); and edited a study of Prime Ministers in 'West European Prime Ministers' (London: Frank Cass, 1991). He wrote the first study of the private secretaries of prime ministers in G.W. Jones, “The Prime Ministers’ Secretaries: Politicians or Administrators?” in J.G. Griffith (ed.), 'From Politics to Administration' (London: Allen and Unwin, 1975). He co-authored, with Andrew Blick, 'At Power's Elbow: Aides to the Prime Minister from Robert Walpole to David Cameron' (London: Biteback Publishing, 2013).
The Prime Minister's Secretariat (the 'Garden Suburb') was formed 100 years ago, to support David Lloyd George in the conduct of the war. But would it still be needed once hostilities came to an end?
![Extract of the draft note from 2 January 1917 on 10 Downing Street headed paper which reads 'To: The Private Secretary, the Prime Minister has decided, with a view to keeping himself in close touch with the several departments, to establish a ['Secretariat' is crossed out and replaced by 'Department'] in connection with Office of the First Lord of the Treasury. The following gentlemen have been appointed to act as secretaries to the ['First Lord of the Treasury' is crossed out and replaced by 'new Department']](https://history.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/01/edited-1024x753.jpg)
It is a century since David Lloyd George formed the first ever prime-ministerial policy team, known as the ‘Garden Suburb’.
Behind every Prime Minister there are other people, 'at Power’s Elbow', never achieving the same acclaim or notoriety, yet indispensable to the very public figure they support. The British premiership has always been a group effort. This point can be …
At the beginning of 2012 Sir Gus O’Donnell, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service, retired. Rather than handing over to a single successor his post was divided into three. The role of Cabinet Secretary was filled by …
“How the power of Prime Ministry grew up into its present form it is difficult to trace precisely.” In 1841 a former Prime Minister, Viscount Melbourne, explained the above to Queen Victoria. Details of the lives of individual Prime Ministers …