professionalized the government operation. to give a veneer of openness. in fact, i suspect that, you know, they tried very hard to make sure that they created an impression of openness. but the truth is they were screwing down the lid all the time. people talk about spin and tony blair and all of us, but you did actually expose yourself quite a lot. i always think with the spin thing, that was in part a media term that was invented because we had a very effective media operation. you had peter mandellson, the whole new labour machine telling cabinet ministers what they can say. oh, he wrote the rule book in many respects. in my early 20s, he was the guy. i copied it, absolutely. allister was an