Yes Minister, No Minister

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By Sanchia Berg Today programme When Boris Johnson launched his first public consultation as London's mayor earlier this month, he apparently let slip what his own choice would be. Would you favour a change to the congestion charge zone?

He is asking the people of London for their views on the western zone extension of the congestion charge. When one woman said she'd pick option three - keeping the charge with some changes - he enthusiastically added "me too!".

Confirmation for the cynical that public consultation is largely for show? That's certainly a view held by Sir Antony Jay, creator of Yes Minister.

"I think people have always been cynical about consultation because they know perfectly well that they have no power," he says.

"If you consult people without letting them have any power to do anything, it's awfully tempting to use it as a method of making what you want to do seem popular and a democratic decision when in fact it's nothing of the sort".

Sir Antony and Jonathan Lynn dissected polling methods in the first episode of Yes Prime Minister. Sir Humphrey shows Bernard how it works - asking him a series of very leading questions so that he feels compelled to answer "yes" to the final one: "Would you favour reintroducing National Service?"

Sir Antony explained this was based on a real experience in the late 1950s: his wife had opened the door to someone supposedly sampling views on the renationalisation of the steel industry. The questions ran as follows: Many politicians particularly at the national level now feel that the public really doesn't like or trust them and if only they could out what the public really wanted then the public would come to like politicians once again Prof Tony Travers

"'Do you think British Rail food is pretty awful? Do you have to wait a long time for hospital appointments? Does it take too long to get electricity work done? Do you have a long wait for telephone installation? Are you in favour of further nationalisation?' After saying all the standard answers you look a fool if you say, 'Yes I am'."

He'd also conducted a similar exercise for The Frost Report in the 1960s, asking one side of a street a set of questions leading them to vote Conservative, and the other side a set leading them to vote Labour. It worked very well.

But people are much more sophisticated now, according to Bobby Duffy, deputy managing director of Ipsos Mori, and they will not be taken in.

"It's very obvious to people these days when that's happening and I don't think that's widespread at all," he says. Sir Arnold and Sir Humphrey - civil servants extraordinaire

He explains that it was much harder to get people to take part in any kind of consultation, because they were now so cynical about the process - and that public consultations did have an impact, especially on local regeneration projects. He also says that politicians were partly to blame for the cynicism.

"They don't close the feedback loop with people and tell them what's happened as a result of the consultations they've taken part in. If you do that in a proper adult way people do respond to it."

Perhaps that's because there is so much public consultation now. No longer just traditional consultations - for example - on the third runway at Heathrow - or the opinion polls - but new tools used to test policy ideas: the Big Conversation, the citizen's jury, the focus group.

These methods are inevitably associated with New Labour, but some were pioneered by the Conservatives. And Bobby Duffy believes that the Conservative party would continue this if elected.

"They are committed to finding out what people think. It would be very hard to row back from the principle of giving people a say over priorities and key decisions." Cut out all the extraneous stuff...just the facts man, just the protein. Atkins government! The Thick Of It

Not all observers believe a deep cynicism is to blame for the growth in this industry. Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, suggests that it was - at heart - down to the politicians' desire to be loved.

"Many politicians particularly at the national level now feel that the public really doesn't like or trust them and if only they could out what the public really wanted then the public would come to like politicians once again."

'Atkins government'

For him, this is perfectly illustrated by a scene in the political satire The Thick of It. Reviewing footage of a focus group, discussing policy ideas, the minister is struck by the way one woman seems to represent "middle England". He decides to speak to her directly: "Cut out all the extraneous stuff...just the facts man, just the protein. Atkins government!"

Of course it backfires - the woman's views on policy are not shared by the press - and then she turns out to be an actress.

Testing policy on the public before formulating it may seem like a modern idea - but it's not. In the relatively obscure 1969 film The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, Peter Cook plays a pollster who becomes prime minister by doing just that.

Once in power, he takes public consultation to its logical conclusion, by asking people to vote on every issue. Overwhelmed by brown envelopes, the people - especially the postmen - protest, and Cook invites them to take part in one last referendum: giving him presidential powers.

Appropriately enough, the film's recently been released on DVD.