The Role of the Civil Service in Cabinet Government.

[Kirkhill]

Another opinion:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12178285/The-Civil-Service-shouldnt-be-on-Remains-side.html

The Civil Service shouldn’t be on Remain’s side
Voters need impartial information – Whitehall must serve them, not one man’s political agenda

....


This could have been predicted – Mr Cameron is a very political Prime Minister – but as Head of the Civil Service, Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood should have stopped him. He is the guardian of the civil service code that places impartiality at the heart of their work; yet he has issued guidelines that go so far as to encourage the bypassing of Secretaries of State by staff who are being encouraged to take EU matters directly to No 10. For all the fair criticism of Tony Blair’s style of “sofa government”, even he did not seek to centralise power so radically. Sir Richard Wilson, the Cabinet secretary during my time as a Home Office and DCMS Minister, would never have allowed this to happen....

Kate Hoey is the Labour MP for Vauxhall and a member of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (and, apparently a Minister in Tony Blair's cabinet).

Given the source, and for a variety of reasons, the assertion is debatable - but that is what we are doing here.

 

[Kirkhill]

Further to the debate:

Euorsceptic ministers may have to use a freedom of information requests or a parliamentary questions to obtain EU-related documents produced by their own staff, a top civil servant has said.

Sir Jeremy Heywood, Britain's most senior civil servant, has been accused of stifling debate among eurosceptic ministers by issuing new guidance banning ministers from accessing official documents and receiving briefings ahead of the referendum.

However, Permanent Secretary Sir Jonathan Stephen, who works in the department of pro-Brexit Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers, told MPs today that if ministers campaigning for the UK to leave the EU "put in a freedom of information request or a parliamentary question, that will be answered, but they won't be receiving the support of the Civil Service".

Asked whether he would withhold from Ms Villiers information bearing on the referendum which 10 Downing Street or the Cabinet Office had asked her department to produce, Northern Ireland Office Permanent Secretary Sir Jonathan Stephens said: "Yes. That information is to be used to support the policy of the Government of the day."

Contrary view from the same article

...the eurosceptic Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has told his staff to defy the Government and grant him access to European Union documents.

But Mr Duncan-Smith has apparently told an ally: "My civil servants don't work for Jeremy Heywood, they work for me.
“It's me who has the seals of state, not him. I have told them that all European Union documents must pass across my desk. I trust my staff, and they will not withhold information from me.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12178968/Eurosceptic-ministers-may-have-to-use-freedom-of-information-requests-to-obtain-EU-related-documents-produced-by-their-own-staff-latest.html

It is worth noting that David Cameron would probably love to fire IDS, and Gove and Villiers et al but he can't, not without putting his government at risk.  IDS in particular has a strong following in the party, particularly amongst the "Grassroots", defined by the constituency associations.  The same associations who he feels have forced his hand to calling the referendum, who he has instructed his ministers and MPs to ignore and who he now wants to organize out of existence.....

Secret plan to axe 90 per cent of Tory associations which would smooth George Osborne's coronation as leader
Critics believe that it is a bid to reduce the influence of Tory associations - which are typically Eurosceptic - on the party’s next leadership contest

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/12178192/Secret-plan-to-axe-90-per-cent-of-Tory-associations-which-would-smooth-George-Osbornes-coronation-as-leader.html

A motion that is backed by the likes of this

David Cameron needs to crush his party members – or risk Labour's fate
The election of Jeremy Corbyn shows you can't trust your grassroots. Reforming Conservative associations is long overdue

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/12179382/David-Cameron-needs-to-crush-his-party-members-or-risk-Labours-fate.html

And people wonder at the rise of the likes of Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn and all the other "populists" out there.

And here in Canada we have the "populist" left versus the "populist" right versus the "elitist" centre. Some party overlap may occur.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

I think this may come as a shock to Mr. Duncan Smith, but he may soon discover that his permanent secretary will inform him, in the infamous words of Sir Humphrey, that "You do not run this Department, I do!", and that the civil servants in "his" department are not "his" civil servants but  members of THE loyal civil service of Her Majesty, which is "de facto" jointly headed by the Cabinet Secretary and the Secretary to the Treasury. 

 

[Kirkhill]

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/trudeau-makes-first-shakeup-of-top-ps-ranks

Trudeau makes first shakeup of top PS ranks

http://www.embassynews.ca/news/2016/03/02/wave-of-public-servants-becoming-political-staffers/48311

Wave of public servants becoming political staffers

'It absolutely feeds into the perception that the civil service favours the Liberals.'

I'm reminded of the old party dance:

You put your left foot in.
You put your left foot out.
You put your left foot in
And you shake it all about.

You do the Hokey Kokey and you turn yourself around.

Thanks to David Akin for the heads up on both of these.

 

[George Wallace]

http://www.embassynews.ca/news/2016/03/02/wave-of-public-servants-becoming-political-staffers/48311

These paragraphs hit home not only with the Conservative Party, but myself as well, after watching the partisan politics carried out by the various unions, in particular the Federal Public Service, during the last election; combined with the release of the Hillary Clinton tapes that exposed the attitude held by numerous Department of Foreign Affairs officials:

Several public servants have shed their neutrality to join the ranks of political staffers working for Liberal ministers.

These include a handful who’ve recently worked at the foreign ministry, as well as others from federal departments and organizations including the environment ministry, International Development Research Centre, Natural Resources Canada and Public Prosecution Service of Canada.

Some public servants who’ve made the switch are reprising political roles they held under previous Liberal governments.

To some Conservatives, the phenomenon feeds feelings expressed within their ranks that the public service is full of closeted Liberals.

 

[Kirkhill]

I wonder how many Upper Canada, Trinity and Lakefield grads do you find amongst their ranks?