SPECIAL advisers to government ministers have come out of the shadows recently with the high-profile departure from No 10 Downing Street of Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain.

And even more light is shone on those commonly known as Spads in a new book by a man who helped Robert Buckland retain his South Swindon seat a year ago.

The Secret Life of Special Advisers, by Peter Cardwell, was published just at the end of October – and he couldn’t have wished for a better marketing campaign.

Peter, who first worked for Mr Buckland at the Ministry of Justice, said: “The book came out on October 27 and three weeks later I’m still talking about it. I've been on the Today programme and The Westminster Hour, it’s funny how it happened.”

The motor behind the book, which Peter describes as a light-hearted look at the world of Spads and ministers, was his sacking by Mr Cummings and Mr Cain in February.

He said: “I went home to my parents’ in Northern Ireland to lick my wounds a bit. I would have probably stayed there a fortnight. But then there was lockdown and I was there for four months.”

Peter’s former colleague on Newsnight has written books for Biteback Publishing and he tipped him off they were looking for a book on Spads.

He said: “Four months in lockdown and 80,000 words later and here it is.”

It draws on his experiences working for Northern Ireland secretary James Brokenshire and Robert Buckland, and shows a mix of high drama and low comedy.

Peter said: “It’s a strange job, and it’s a very close relationship between a minister and adviser. I might be suggesting to Robert what to say about policy on Newsnight, but I’ll also be reminding him to go for a pee beforehand. It’s both those things.”

Peter actually resigned as a Spad to help Mr Buckland fight the 2019 election in South Swindon and said: “You’re not being paid, at least not by parliament, so I was living with local party worker Alex Williams. Then for the last two weeks I was staying in Robert’s house with his family

“I shared use of his wife Sian’s car. And the thing that kept me awake at night wasn’t the election, it wasn’t possibly losing, it was pranging the car – a good German hatchback.

“I got through those two weeks and gave it back full of petrol, without a mark, and I’d had it washed and valeted. I was so relieved.”

But that was not before Peter had to negotiate the Magic Roundabout with Sian Buckland (who, the book says, had worked out Boris Johnson’s partner Carrie Symonds was pregnant well before anyone else) supervising: “During our impromptu driving lesson, Sian also kindly took me across one of Swindon’s greatest cultural highlights, the so-called Magic Roundabout, which I’m fairly sure was designed by someone who was, at the time, on glue.

"Five mini-roundabouts surround one circle, and somehow drivers are meant to negotiate this bizarre and confusing system, which I eventually mastered a few days before leaving Swindon.

"Swindon generally appears to be obsessed with roundabouts. On one 20-minute journey from the centre of the town to north Swindon, I counted 19 of them.”

In the book Peter suggests all election publicity is useful,. He refers to the defacing of a large billboard in the town, where somebody had replaced the B in Buckland with an F.

He said: “Secretly, I wasn’t entirely disappointed that it had happened and therefore had Robert’s poster all over the local media a few days before polling day. I don’t know who the vandal was, but his or her law-breaking only served to help our campaign."

Peter also says long election days would be ended with a takeaway and an episode of the West Wing. It’s a programme Spads love.

He said: “Ministers return to their constituency on Fridays, so Spads often meet up on a Thursday for a drink and a chat. That’s the question we ask each other – has it been a West Wing week or a Thick of It week, which is not so good. Often it’s been both.”

Mr Buckland said: “I have spoken to Peter to congratulate him and wish him well with his entertaining book. He worked hard for me and other ministers and I shall always be grateful to him.”

The Secret Life of Special Advisers is published by Biteback in hardback and e-book and is available at all the usual outlets.