The Spectator

Sir John Hoskyns was head of Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit from 1979 to 1982. In a Q&A with The Spectator, he describes what it was really like to work with her, and how David Cameron could learn from the late Prime Minister. In 1977, you wrote the Stepping Stones Report, which looked at the fundamental problems holding Britain back in the pre-Thatcher era. If you were to write a sequel, what would you focus on? There’s no snap answer – at least from a bystander. Stepping Stones, and our ‘Wiring Diagram’ were written for  a particular crisis for the British economy. I had been working on an analysis of the problem since since the mid-seventies with the nuclear physicist and one-time head of the MoD think-tank, Terry Price.

In association in Centrica How can consumers ensure they are receiving the best possible deal for their energy bills? In this special View from 22 podcast, the Spectator's political editor James Forsyth discusses issues within in the energy market and some potential solutions for getting the lowest possible energy bills. Is shale gas the answer? Do green subsidies need to be cut? And is the government doing enough to help the consumer? Joining the panel are the Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP, Conservative MP for Hitchin and Harpenden and member of the Select Committee on Climate Change, Peter Moorey, Principal Advocate for Which? Consumer Review services and Ian Peters, the Managing Director of British Gas.