Finn Baker

@finnbaker.bsky.social

1876 Followers 779 Following

Former research assistant @instituteforgov

A screenshot from the Institute for Government's Ministers Database, showing Baroness Sherlock's promotion
A timeline from the Institute for Government showing the two roles Baroness Sherlock has had at the Department for Work and Pensions since the 2024 general election
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 23 proposed members of the bill committee, including MPs like Rachel Hopkins and Danny Kruger
An excerpt from a report from 2000 entitled 'Programming of legislation and timing of votes' describing the operation of programme motions in the 1999-2000 session. It reads: "Two days had already been given to the consideration of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, most of that time having been spent on new clauses, before a programme motion was agreed for the remaining provisions of the Bill. The motion provided for five blocks of one hour each for various groups of amendments and for proceedings on third reading to be completed by 10pm." [The remainder of the paragraph goes into more detail on the debate.]
An excerpt from a 1998 report from the Modernisation Committee entitled 'Conduct in the Chamber'. It reads: "The changes that have taken place over the last few years in the rules governing short speeches have increased the discretion given to the Speaker both as to the time within which the limit can be imposed and the type of debate to which it can apply. We recommend that this discretion should be further extended to permit variations in the length of time allocated for speeches made under the Standing Order. There is nothing sacrosanct about ten minutes. There may well be occasions when, on a rather technical or emotive subject, a slightly longer period of, say, fifteen minutes might be more appropriate. On the other side of the coin, some debates are very severely time-limited. An opposition half-day debate, in which there art likely to be four front bench speeches, is limited to three hours, even if it starts on time. A debate on a piece of delegated legislation is normally limited to one and a half hours. Such legislation can be of great interest, such as the recent beef on the bone regulations. In such exceptional debates there may be a case for a speech limit of less than ten minutes. The formal limit would be for the Speaker to determine, although in our view it should never be less than eight minutes. Again there would be no difficulty in making the necessary Standing Order change, and no insuperable practical difficulty in operating the Table clock."
A transcript of oral evidence given by Peter Bone MP to the Modernisation Committee in 2007. It reads: "Mr Bone: First of all, I hate to appear before something called "the Modernisation Committee". I think it would be much better if it were called the "Reforming" or the "Structure" Committee. "Modernisation" has very poor vibes for me."
Margaret Hodge: "So all the big battles have been with others – when I was fighting the BNP in the borough, when I was fighting here [in parliament, as the chair of the Public Accounts Committee] doing the dirty money and tax avoidance and evasion. So maybe I’m more of a campaigner, but I’ve enjoyed both and people think I’m an okay administrator. But it’s weird, the years as a minister were, on the whole, I think good years."
Margaret Hodge: "Andy Burnham [then Hodge’s secretary of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport] rang me and said, “what the hell are you taking leave for? You’re bonkers.” And I thought he was bonkers to tell me I was bonkers."
Margaret Hodge: "[T]hey were the most appalling civil servants. I just couldn’t stand it. They were pen pushers: ‘as long as it’s off my desk’. They’d never do a report in time. They’d never come back in time."
Margaret Hodge: "And I just didn't realise that nothing, nothing you decided as a junior (I was a PUSS)... I didn't have the power to decide, which was completely frustrating."
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 32 chairs that make up the House of Commons liaison committee, including the 20 chairs of departmental select committees and containing figures like Meg Hillier (chair of the Treasury select committee) and Liam Byrne (chair of the Business and Trade select committee).
A motion on tomorrow's order paper that the committee on the Terminally Ill Adults Bill be given the power to send for persons, papers and records
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 7 members of opposition whips' office in the House of Lords, led by Baroness Williams of Trafford.
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 29 members of shadow Lords team, including figures like Viscount Camrose and the Earl of Minto.
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 20 members of opposition whips' office, including figures like Nick Timothy and Alicia Kearns.
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 26 junior shadow ministers in the House of Commons, including figures like Helen Grant and Danny Kruger.
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 25 members of Kemi Badenoch's shadow cabinet, including figures like Robert Jenrick and Victoria Atkins.
A graphic showing shadow ministers who are also select committee members, featuring individuals like Jesse Norman and Alicia Kearns
A screenshot of section 32 of the bill ('Secretary of State’s powers to ensure assistance is available'). The italic text indicates that these clauses introduce new expenditure and will require a money resolution.
Robert Halfon: "The workload is crazy, because you're expected to deal with stakeholders, you're expected to be able to answer debates in parliament... And do a bill. And do your constituency stuff."
Robert Halfon: "Developing the lifelong learning entitlement... is going to be life-changing and one of the most transformative things we've done as a government, in my view, in the last 10 years"
Robert Halfon: "Because of my legs George Osborne occasionally helped me carry my briefcase, so I said that I was the first PPS in history where the secretary of state carried my bags, not the other way round!"
Sir Alister Jack: "I'm not going to write the story of those behind the scenes who disagreed with the [section 35] decision, but let's just say it wasn't unanimous"
Sir Alister Jack: "I wasn't in any way rattled by [Nicola Sturgeon's] announcement that she was having a referendum. I never believed for a minute it would happen."
Sir Alister Jack: "I felt that devolution had eroded not so much our powers but had eroded our presence in Scotland, and I wanted everyone to know that they had two governments in Scotland"
Dame Margaret Hodge: "Andy Burnham [then Hodge’s secretary of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport] rang me and said, “what the hell are you taking leave for? You’re bonkers.”"
Dame Margaret Hodge: "They were the most appalling civil servants [at DTI}. I just couldn’t stand it. They were pen pushers: ‘as long as it’s off my desk’. They’d never do a report in time. They’d never come back in time."
Dame Margaret Hodge: "Sure Start never had a statutory backing so when the cuts came in 2010, it was the easiest thing to destroy."
Notice of a written ministerial statement to be laid by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on Wednesday 6 November entitled ‘Transparency and Accountability’
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 11 members of the Scottish affairs select committee, where none of the members were in parliament before the election.
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 11 members of the transport select committee, where the chair Ruth Cadbury is the only member who was in parliament before the election.
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 10 members of the public administration and constitutional affairs select committee, where the chair Simon Hoare is the only member who was in parliament before the election.
A graphic from the Institute for Government showing the 11 members of the Justice select committee, where the chair Andy Slaughter is the only member who was in parliament before the election.
A Sankey diagram from the Institute for Government showing the progress of the 2,516 private members’ bills introduced between 2010–12 and 2023–24, where 698 PMBs had a second reading debate scheduled in the first house and just 110 PMBs made it into law.
A column chart from the Institute for Government showing the number of private members' bills per sitting day which were introduced in each session between 1997 and 2024, where the average has risen over time.
A column chart from the Institute for Government showing the number of private members' bills introduced each session between 1997 and 2024, with almost 400 bills introduced in the 2017-19 session.
A chart from the Institute for Government showing the number of cabinet committees since 2010, showing a significant fall in the number of committees when Liz Truss took office
William Hamilton MP using the phrase in 1972
Use of the phrase in the Observer, 1990
A quote from the Times Diary in 1989
A quote from Stuart Bell in 1985
A screenshot from the IfG Ministers Database (link below) showing the appointment of Pat McFadden as minister for intergovernmental relations on 5 September, and three appointments on 8 October: Lord Cryer as a Lord in Waiting and Seema Malhotra and Nia Griffith as ministers for equality.
A chart from the Institute for Government showing the Downing Street chiefs of staff since 1979, which shows a rapid rate of turnover in recent years.
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of Sir Jeremy Wright, a former attorney general
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of Simon Hoare, lately the minister for local government
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of John Glen, a former Cabinet Office minister
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of David Davis, former Brexit secretary
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of Barry Gardiner, who held office at the NIO, DTI and Defra in just 3 years
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of Dawn Butler, another former Commons whip
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of David Mundell, former Scottish secretary
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of Dame Karen Bradley, a former Conservative cabinet minister
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of Sharon Hodgson, a former Commons whip.
A timeline chart from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles of Derek Twigg, a former defence minister
A timeline chart from the Institute for government showing the ministerial roles of Liam Byrne, who is running for the chair of the business committee.
A timeline chart from the Institute for government showing the ministerial roles of Dame Meg Hillier, a former Home Office minister
A timeline chart from the Institute for government showing the ministerial roles of Alistair Carmichael, latterly secretary of state for Scotland.
A timeline from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles held by Dame Caroline Dinenage, including at DCMS
A timeline from the Institute for Government showing the ministerial roles held by Baroness Trumpington, 1980-97.
A chart from the Institute for Government showing the proportions of male and female ministers in government since 1979, where there are just four female ministers in 1979. The number of women rises over time, dropping under the Coalition government but increasing to more than 50% under Keir Starmer.
A chart from the Institute for Government showing the number of government ministers each month since 1979, where the number generally rises over time, peaking under Rishi Sunak and dropping when Keir Starmer takes office.