Tories consider controversial plan to politicise
civil service after Raab scandal
No 10 adviser urges political appointments in a
radical plan following crisis over bullying
Toby Helm
and Michael Savage
Sat 22 Apr
2023 20.33 BST
Radical
plans to bring in more “politicisation” of Whitehall by allowing ministers
greater powers to appoint their own civil servants – including some with overt
political affiliations – are being considered by the government’s own adviser
on the civil service.
Writing in
today’s Observer, the Conservative peer and former Cabinet Office minister
Francis Maude, who is expected to report shortly to Rishi Sunak, says that in
order for ministers to get the best advice possible, we need “to be more robust
and less mealy mouthed about ‘politicisation’”.
Maude’s
ideas, which also include external auditing of advice given by civil servants
to reward those who perform best, will cause deep alarm across Whitehall
following the resignation of former deputy prime minister Dominic Raab on
Friday after accusations were upheld that he had bullied officials whom he
believed had underperformed.
Raab was
forced to quit the Cabinet after an official inquiry found that he had engaged
in “abuse or misuse of power” by undermining and humiliating staff – and was
also “intimidating and insulting” – during his time at the Ministry of Justice.
The Raab
case has highlighted tensions between the need for Conservative ministers to
drive policies forward to deliver on their political objectives, and the
independence of the civil servants who serve them.
The manner
of Raab’s departure has angered many Tory MPs, who see the civil service as
dominated by liberal remainers, with some warning that other civil servants
will be encouraged to claim a Conservative “political scalp” as a result of his
departure.
Civil
servants, on the other hand, now fear a backlash by Tory critics of the civil
service, who include Maude.
Ahead of
his report, Maude gives a clear indication that he believes only radical
change, learning from the examples of countries such as Australia, New Zealand
and Canada, will prevent more crises breaking out between ministers and civil
servants.
“It is
perfectly possible to preserve impartiality and, indeed, improve continuity
while allowing ministers more say in appointments,” he writes. “I will address
this in the accountability and governance review I am undertaking for the
government. Without material adjustment, there will be more cases like Raab’s
when frustrations boil over.”
Appearing
to back a dramatic break with the past, he adds: “We need a much more robust
culture, with less groupthink, more rugged disagreement, and the confidence
both to offer challenge and to accept it.
“That
includes accepting candid feedback. Today, there is no external accountability
for the quality of advice, other than to ministers. There could be value in
regular external audits, conducted by qualified outsiders, with published
results.
“This would
reward officials who get it right, and provide a stimulus to the rest. We also
need to be more robust and less mealy mouthed about ‘politicisation’. Again,
other systems deal with this better.
“In France,
permanent civil servants often have overt political affiliations and it causes
few problems. In Australia, permanent civil servants in ministers’ private
offices are released from the normal obligations of political impartiality and
can take part in party political activity. We don’t need to go that far, but
the key, as always, is transparency and pragmatism.”
Without
change, Maude says, “we will see tensions rumbling, frustrations building and
relationships fracturing”.
A former
adviser to the government said that cabinet ministers had already gained a
greater say over recent years in the appointment of their top civil servants.
But, if Maude proposed to extend this further down the scale, it would be
“incendiary” and threaten the concept of an independent civil service.
Many in
Whitehall now fear that in the run-up to a general election, expected next
year, the Conservatives will turn their fire increasingly on the civil service
and blame it for the government’s shortcomings and the failings of Brexit.
On Saturday
a former senior civil servant who worked with Raab said he had seen no evidence
to support the ex-deputy prime minister’s accusation – after his resignation –
that civil service “activists” were working against him.
Simon
McDonald, who was permanent secretary of the Foreign Office for five years,
said there was no civil service “agenda” and the “minister’s behaviour” was the
issue.
After
announcing he would quit on Friday, Raab lashed out at what he called “activist
civil servants” who were able to “block reforms or changes through a rather
passive-aggressive approach” when dealing with ministers.
But Lord
McDonald, who gave evidence to Adam Tolley KC’s bullying investigation, told
BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I disagree strongly with Mr Raab. I think all
the civil servants I saw working for Dominic Raab worked very hard for him in
the way they are required to do.
“There is
no civil service activism, there is no civil service passive aggression, there
is no separate civil service agenda. I saw no evidence of a small group of
activists trying to undermine a minister. The issue is a minister’s behaviour.”
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