I don't know about that Sugarfoot Jack. As I have mentioned before, I was a special advisor for a short while at DH, and whilst I fit the demographic you mention from a shallow financial aspect, the novelty was, for John Hutton, that I was an ex miner.

Regarding giving uncomfortable messages, I was aware of the possibility of having to gage the Minister's mind and say what he wanted to hear, but I didn't. Interestingly, I lasted quite a long time. Many advisors who come over as being "corporate" do so for the simple reason that dissent and contra position is something you are expected to put over in order for Ministers to make up their mind. Once they have done, as in any company, you are expected not to contradict it.

Advisors are most useful before the decision, not afterwards. Hence the folly of high profile advisors whose opinions are related elsewhere. Nobody asked me my opinion, I was just a Parochial NHS Chairman so far as the media were concerned. And in that role, I could and did question decisions after the event.