Downing Street have been quick to dismiss claims they are relaxed about the thousands of Civil Servants who continue to work from home, after their spokesperson set the cat among the pigeons last week by suggesting “there will always be an element of flexible working” in Whitehall. All while the Foreign Office was half-empty as the Sudan crisis unravelled…

Now the spokesperson has tried to mend the damage, saying today:

“In general terms we think that face-to-face working is and will remain crucially important, not least to more junior staff who will need to learn on the job, and we will and expect to see further increases in terms of attendance across Whitehall post-pandemic. Flexible working will continue to be part of any modern workplace, that includes the civil service, but of course face-to-face, in-office attendance will be vitally important.”

At the start of the year, over half of all Civil Servants stayed at home in a single week, despite Rishi’s previous vow to get staffing back up to pre-pandemic levels. Now Downing Street are having to stress just how much they want staff in the office without actually doing anything about it…