Traumatised Labour has not yet started the recruitment process for a new director general in the Propriety and Constitution Group of the Cabinet Office. This is usually a powerful role for a civil servant which can decide political fates and deals with a lot of sensitive events in the day-to-day of Whitehall…
The post was previously staffed by Darren Tierney, who was rated as capable, before he left to run the ONS in August last year. The post has still not been filled…
In response to a parliamentary question from Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake a Labour minister said:
“The Director General for Propriety and Constitution Group is currently filled on an interim basis, a permanent appointment has not been made. The recruitment campaign is still currently in planning stages and details will be released in due course.”
Ellen Atkinson is listed on government website as the Director General for group – she was hired in violation of ethics rules. Interestingly the government has decided that she is there on an interim basis…
That is a gap of nine months before the government has even bothered beginning the process to find a new propriety chief. Has Starmer lost interest in the concept…
Speaking at an IPPR think tank event in London, the Health Secretary compared striking junior doctors to mutinous sailors.
“I feel like we’ve turned the ship, the boat’s going in the right direction, except some of the crew are trying to row in one direction while the rest of us are going in the other. You can’t make progress that way. We are seeing an improving NHS, and we’ve seen improvement despite resident doctors’ strikes, but the fact is, performance would have been better and there would have been more money to invest in staff and services if the BMA hadn’t been undertaking the strike action.”