The John Adair Handbook of Management and Leadership

88 The John Adair Handbook of Management and Leadership

‘Remember that

time is money!’

Benjamin Franklin

Controlling the Cabinet

The Cabinet usually meets once a week.That should be enough for regular

meetings, and should be if they grasp from the start what they are there for.

They should be back at their work as soon as possible, and a Prime Minister

should put as little as possible in their way. We started sharp at 11, and rose

in time for lunch. Even in a crisis, another couple of meetings should be

enough in the same week: if there is a crisis, the less talk the better.

The Prime Minister shouldn’t speak too much himself in Cabinet. He

should start the show or ask somebody else to do so, and then intervene

only to bring out the more modest chaps who, despite their seniority, might

say nothing if not asked. And the Prime Minister must sum up.

Experienced Labour leaders should be pretty good at this; they have spent

years attending debates at meetings of the Parliamentary Party and the

National Executive, and have to sum those up.That takes some doing –

good training for the Cabinet.