I have been listening to a podcast led by Alistair Campbell, former Director of Communications for Tony Blair, and Rory Stewart, a writer and former Conservative minister who became very prominent in a surprisingly close attempt to become Prime Minister after the resignation of Theresa May. The podcast has a sibling podcast called "Leading" where they interview various leadership figures. They recently interviewed Theresa May over the course of two episodes (both podcasts are easy to find on any podcasting site). The tone of the episodes tends to be relatively reflective and the interviewees are given space to put forward their perspectives on events and their role in them.
It was interesting to hear May speak about a range of decisions and campaigns that she was a key figure on over the course of her career. One thing that I wrote about here at the time was the Home Office's campaigns to make Britain a "hostile environment" for illegal immigration. Below is one particularly stark example, where they drove vans with "In the UK illegally: Go Home or Face Arrest" around multi-ethnic neighborhoods in London. I wrote about it at time - I am little embarrassed at how polite the tone of my writing was but it is clear that I thought this was poorly thought-out and ethically problematic.
It is interesting that over the course of the interview, it is the only action and policy that a former long-standing Home Secretary and Prime Minister fully accepts was a mistake. I have used it in lectures ever since as an example of why having some ethical breaks in the construction of influence campaigns of whatever sort is important. It also continues to stand as a good example of where political propaganda meets administrative influence. To the extent that behavioural science in particular becomes part of the institutional environment of public policy, a critical awareness of the potential damage of such policies is very important.
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