Neville Gaffin obituary

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/06/neville-gaffin-obituary

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Whether working for Margaret Thatcher in No 10 or for the Labour minister Peter Shore at the time of the first euro referendum in 1975, my friend Neville Gaffin, who has died aged 85, was an old-style communications chief and civil servant who was never afraid to speak truth to power.

“He came from an age when telling the truth wasn’t a capital offence in Whitehall,” said his former colleague Mike Granatt. “Trusted by ministers and journalists alike, he was a lovely man – erudite, wise and knew how to look utterly confident in the face of total uncertainty.”

When Sir Bernard Ingham became Thatcher’s press secretary, he chose Neville, then working in the Department of Employment, as his deputy. They made a good double act. Where Bernard would rant and rage, Neville was always calm. “Being number two at No 10 was the worst job in the government information service because you had to stand in during a crisis without always knowing everything that was going on,” said Ingham. “You had to be able to read the tea leaves.”

Facing awkward questions from journalists, Neville would start debating with them. Anxious to file their copy, they soon realised the perils of getting into a long argument.

The only time colleagues saw him really worried was when he “mislaid” the minister for the civil service, the head of the civil service and the Lord Privy Seal. All were meant to be at the opening of Civil Service Commission offices in Basingstoke but had boarded the wrong part of the train.

Born in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, Neville was the son of an optician. His father died when he was three and during the second world war, he and his mother, Jessie, were evacuated to Baltimore in the US, where he became a lover of baseball. Back in Britain, he transferred his passion to cricket and travelled the world following the game he loved.

Starting his career on local papers, he became chief subeditor on the Daily Sketch. He then gave that up and went to Hertford College, Oxford, as a mature student to study English. After this, he worked as a press officer in several Whitehall departments, including employment and trade.

While working at the Pay Board during the Edward Heath era, he interviewed a job applicant called Jean Caines. An English graduate like him, she clearly knew nothing about pay policy – so he asked her to discuss Beowulf as a socio-economic document. They married in 1982 and later Jean also worked in No 10.

After No 10 Neville went to the education department as head of the press office. On leaving Whitehall he worked as a consultant to various private sector companies, including Camelot.

Jean survives him.