Policy-Making in the Treasury

Going behind the doors of the Treasury and Number 10, this book explores why successive British Prime Ministers from Callaghan to Blair have been hesitant towards European Economic and Monetary Union. It uses official documents and interviews with former ministers to understand discussions that took place at the heart of government.

'This book challenges three decades of conventional political wisdom that government policy on the EU has been a series of lurches in the face of revolts or short-term crises. This book turns such assumptions on their head by revealing where policy development and power really lay throughout: in the Treasury. Unprecedented access to former ministers, officials and government papers, and all shrewdly analysed and engagingly written, has meant that Matthew Smith has achieved something unique: an account of what really went on behind the scenes at the heart of British government.'

Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor, The Times, UK

This book will be of serious interest to all students, analysts and indeed anyone with an interest in British politics. It is underpinned by research based upon unique access to senior politicians and civil servants, as well as a range of key documents, and makes a considerable contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the machinery of government, and the functioning of the Treasury in relation to a pivotal policy issue.

Robert Pyper, Head of School of Social Sciences and Professor of Government and Public Policy, University of the West of Scotland, UK

Matthew Smith provides a fascinating and immensely valuable account of what was going on in the Treasury while the political debates raged round and about over Britain's participation in Europe's moves towards monetary union. By showing the changing importance of Treasury analysis in the development of some of the most sensitive decisions taken by governments in recent years, Smith also advances considerably our understanding of the role of the civil service in policy making in Britain.

Edward Page, Sidney and Beatrice Webb Professor of Public Policy, Department of Government, London School of Economics, UK

Matthew Smith was born in Worcestershire and now lives in North London, UK. In between, he obtained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Birmingham, and his PhD in Manchester. Having worked in central government at Westminster for more than a decade, he is now based in the City.