Golden Lord Windlesham
I see that Lord Windlesham, the able, energetic and amiable Minister of State at the Home Office, is to become overlord of government activities in relation to the voluntary social services. He will be responsible, among other things, for the implementation of the new policy, announced by the Prime Minister last December, for developing and improving these services. The policy was first outlined in a Conservative Party Policy Group report finished just before the election, but never published. It has been the subject of seemingly interminable inter-departmental committee meetings presided over by Lord Jellicoe and serviced by, among others, Christopher Patten — on secondment from the Conservative Research Department — who drafted the original party report. Windlesham's appointment is a triumph for the Home Office in competition with other departments, notably the DHSS. He has a knack for picking up new subjects and mastering them in next to no time, having been a successful TV executive, the author of a notable work in the field of political science, and a beginner in his present field of immigration and race relations when he came to the Home Office, from which base he has won golden opinions among politicians and the more moderate ele ments in the race relations world. PC
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