'There are people who say that you should never do
any policy work in Opposition because if so you may find yourself in a rigid position when you become the Government. I don't believe that's anything like as big a danger as arriving in government unprepared.' Heath on Whitehall Reform.
See Parliamentary Affairs, October 1978, containing an interview in which Edward Heath talks on the following topics: his highly systematic preparation for office before 1970; his launching of the 'giant Whitehall Departments such as Environment and the Central Policy Review Staff (or 'Think Tank') under Lord Rothschild; and his use of private businessmen to show Whitehall new ways of managing, for example, Defence expenditure and Employment services. Mr. Heath criticises Labour's changes to his reform scheme and also questions Mrs. Thatcher's reluctance to prepare polices during Opposition in the way he did ten years ago. Parliamentary Affairs is available from Oxford University Press Journals Department, Press Road, London, NW10 ODD.
1978 subscription (four issues) £10 (£9 in UK, $22 in US) Single issues e2.60 ($6)
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