Our system of government is broken, and voters feel powerless. Only a radical overhaul of Whitehall can address these problems.
As Graham Stringer, a Labour MP, told GB News: “I find effectively civil servants sacking a minister, which is what has happened, quietly disturbing because one of the great myths in our political life is that we have a non-political civil service”.
I do not believe there are conspiracies by officials to stop this or any other Government from getting on with its business. But there are deep-seated problems in how government works. Here are three issues that need to be tackled.
Still less are civil servants paid to do so rather than getting on with the job – which taxpayers fund.
Conservatives would do well to prioritise above all else the promotion of young, intelligent and furiously ambitious staffers granted a level of autonomy not seen since the administration of Empire.
If politicians come to believe that the civil service is preoccupied with speaking truth to power at the expense of doing its job, Francis Maude-type solutions will be imposed, regardless of which party is in power.
No, his does not mean that the UK has become “ungovernable” or that it will be “impossible for Ministers to do their job” or that his departure is a victory for “the Remainer blob” or evidence that the public sector is full of “snowflakes”.
We need action. And we need ministers who understand how to exercise power. They need to use that power to take decisions and make sure they are implemented.
Anyone who observes the ongoing dysfunction of the British state and our deeply divided political parties should see the need to improve their talent pool.
“It’s simply a reality that all phones – including government ones – are easily hacked,” a Minister told me. “The difference with government phones is that they’re regularly tracked so we know about it sooner when it’s obvious – which it usually isn’t.”
Civil servants drew up a scheme to transfer a lot of responsibility to the Civil Service. The new team may regret signing up to it.
Provisional name: the Government Economic Intelligence and Strategy Service. Separated from the regular Civil Service in all respects.Sustained deliberation, but fast responses to calls for urgency. Ministers the only clients.
With the Cabinet complete, Boris Johnson staffs the lower echelons of the government.
The key issue is the difference between EU codified law which prevents any action not permitted, and our common law, under which everything is permitted unless prohibited.