Working with the Treasury - How to win (and pick) your battles with the Treasury

1 WORKING WITH THE TREASURY I learnt in the Department for Transport that the Treasury transport team actually had some really very important skills, and in some respects understood some of the projects better than the transport department people did themselves… By plugging into the Treasury team and meeting with my Treasury [opposite number]… I was able to understand more about the projects that. [...] Ask your private office to provide a detailed brief for key meetings with the Treasury, including the critical financial details, and make sure you have taken the time to absorb it. [...] I remember arriving [at No.10] with the [Department of Trade and Industry] brief as to why we should spend these hundreds of millions, which stretched to about three or four pages, and sitting on the sofa in Downing Street in Tony [Blair]’s study with Gordon [Brown], who arrived with a briefing from the Treasury… stretching to about 80 or 90 pages, and being fairly quickly eviscerated by the chanc. [...] Speak the Treasury’s language When going into meetings with the Treasury, and especially when asking for additional funding, it can help to think about your policies in terms that will appeal to the officials you are dealing with. [...] Questions to ask yourself To ensure that you work well with the Treasury, consider the following questions: • How can I make good use of the Treasury’s expertise on this issue? • Have I got all the information I need to defend the value for money of this policy or decision? • Is this an essential priority that I want to use my political capital defending? 3 WORKING WITH THE TREASURY Find out more.