Birt was made unpaid Strategy Adviser to Blair in 2001, appointed for what was termed "blue skies thinking" and claimed by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to be "worth every penny"; Blair wanted advice from outside the traditional Whitehall mindset – he had known Birt since the 1980s and approved of his analytical approach. Jeremy Heywood, Blair's principal private secretary, said: "He liked the way that John was willing to get right down into the data and understand the evidence, and come up with a real sense that you could do things in a totally different way." Birt supervised the development of long-term strategy on drugs, health, crime reduction, education, transport and London. His 2004 report on drug policy recommended making heroin use a criminal offence on par with possession.