How to be a Minister

Shortlisted for Debut Political Book of the Year at The Paddy Power Political Book Awards 2015 All ministerial careers end in failure, but they start in hope. True, not everyone expects to end up in No. 10, but everyone wants to do something important. Politics has all sorts of downsides as a career choice but the fortunate few get the opportunity to do something meaningful - prevent or win wars, reduce poverty, create the NHS or, just sometimes, put an end to real injustice. How to Be a Minister launches you into your fledgling ministerial career and shows you how to proceed. This is a fail-safe guide to how to survive as a Secretary of State in Her Majesty's Government, from dealing with civil servants, Cabinet colleagues, the opposition and the media, to coping with the bad times whilst managing the good (and how to resign with a modicum of dignity intact when it all inevitably falls apart). Co-written by former Labour minister John Hutton and former Permanent Secretary Sir Leigh Lewis, How to Be a Minister is not only an invaluable survival guide for ambitious MPs but a tantalising view into the working lives of the people we elect to run our country.

Lord Hutton, as John Hutton, was elected to the House of Commons for the constituency of Barrow and Furness in April 2002, after spending ten years as a law lecturer at Northumbria University. John Hutton began his Ministerial career in 1998 at the Department of Health. He joined the Cabinet in 2005 as Minister for the Cabinet Office. He went on to become the Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business and finally the Ministry of Defence. He stood down from Parliament in 2010. In 2010 he was appointed by the new Government to conduct a review of public sector pensions. He is currently the Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute, a trustee of the Royal Air Force Museum and holds a number of board and advisory roles. John Hutton has published several books on the Great War. Sir Leigh Lewis was Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2005 until his retirement from the Civil Service at the end of 2010. Leigh Lewis entered the then Department of Employment in 1973 after studying languages at Liverpool University. During his early career he worked on, amongst other things, trade union legislation, benefits delivery and the EU. He was Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Lord Young of Graffham from 1984 to 1986 subsequently spending three years on secondment at Cable & Wireless as Group HR Director. He became Chief Executive of the Employment Service in 1997 and the first Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus in 2001. From 2003 to 2005 he was Permanent Secretary for Crime, Policing and Counter-terrorism in the Home Office and was in that role at the time of the 7/7 attacks. Currently Leigh Lewis is the Chair of the alcohol education charity, Drinkaware, and vice-Chair of the homelessness charity, St Mungo's Broadway. He is in addition a visiting fellow at Greenwich University Business School and holds non-executive roles at Aviva PLC and PriceWaterhouse Coopers. John Hutton and Leigh Lewis worked together as Secretary of State and Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2005 to 2007.