Civil servants have been brutalised into ineffectiveness by a succession of hopeless ministers

that minister Kemi Badenoch was a “lame minister who is having rings run around her by Remainer officials”. And on it goes.Raab has done the job. The entire conversation is framed around the wicked Civil Service, manipulating and undermining ministers. And the only proposals we see are of how to eradicate even more of its confidence.

In reality, the Civil Service has been reduced to a quivering version of its former self by a succession of governments. Margaret Thatcher thought of officials as prototypical public sector computer-says-no obstacle creators, who were getting in the way of her dream of free market liberation. Ministers who listened to official advice and moderated their plans were treated as “wets”. They didn’t quite have the inner fire of zealous religious belief she required.

Civil servants sat out that period hoping things would improve when New Labour got into office. They didn’t. Tony Blair modelled his own approach on that of Thatcher. The special advisor class of political appointments was expanded and strengthened. Things then reached a new crescendo under Boris Johnson’s administration, with Dominic Cummings in particular treating them as agents of the “deep state”. Civil servants who raised even the slightest flicker of a problem knew they’d be branded Remoaners or part of the so-called “blob”. Even saying something was illegal was no reason not to do it.Permanent secretaries responded by going out of their way to associate with their minister publicly.

Civil servants aren’t in some kind of conspiracy against the ministerial class. Quite the opposite. They have been brutalised into ineffectiveness by a succession of administrations who treat them as people to be conquered rather than partners who can help make policy work.

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