Anti-Brexit bias runs like a spinal cord through the bloated body of civil servants and ex-mandarins that make up Whitehall. This group of metropolitan remainers – whose fat pensions are funded by the taxpayer – are an influence network which has been regularly accused of trying to hamper Brexit. Many of them have seats in the House of Lords. Last night every living former Cabinet Secretary voted against the government on the customs union. A Guido probe reveals the extent to which former top civil servants share anti-Brexit views…

Let’s start with Lord David Hannay, formerly Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the European Economic Community. He tarred all Leave voters with the same brush, calling them “feckless” during a Parliamentary debate last year. That’s 17,410,742 voters dismissed…

Lord Robin Butler – Cabinet Secretary for a decade under Thatcher, Major and Blair, loudly and publicly opposes Brexit. He claims leaving the EU:

“Strikes a dagger to my soul… The United Kingdom being motivated by an illusory quest for independence, in a world which becomes more interdependent day by day, is a painful prospect.”

Sir John Kerr – former Permanent Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Office (a particular hotbed of remain sentiment) – wants Article 50 reversed and believes the UK should accept a subordinate position to the EU:

“At any stage we can change our minds if we want to… we can remember that an Article 50 notification can always be withdrawn… in the end, we will basically come to heel.”

Lord Sir Nick MacPherson, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury for more than a decade, suggested stopping Article 50, even if it demands a change of government:

“Lord Kerr drafted Art. 50 and entirely right that Brexit can be halted at any time. Odds are against but all governments’ lives are finite.”

Lord Ricketts, former Permanent Under Secretary of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, denied that the EU intends to create its own army despite evidence to the contrary:

“I think we can be completely relaxed about the prospect of a European army; it is never going to happen.”

Former Head of the Civil Service Lord Kerslake – often deployed by Corbynistas as a policy ally – says there is “no upside” to Brexit:

“The challenge here, and I’ll be very direct about this – from my perspective there is no upside [to Brexit]. This is about damage limitation. And we’re working in a situation where policy has not been properly settled.”

Sir Martin Donnelly – Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Trade until last year, prefers a food analogy. He compared leaving the Customs Union to sign trade deals with other countries to:

“Giving up a three-course meal now in favour of the promise of a packet of crisps”

And let’s not forget Lord Gus O’Donnell, Cabinet Secretary from 2005-2015, who publicly campaigned for ‘remain’. Faced with the legacy of this gang of Brussels-loving Sir Humprheys, no wonder Brexiteers think Whitehall is working against them…

The Guardian published a resignation letter from crossbencher Lord Bob Kerslake who has stepped down as Chair of King’s College Hospital Trust in protest at “dire NHS funding problems”. The paper described him as follows:

“Labour asked Sir Bob Kerslake to head up a review into the Treasury because we needed to have a serious and thorough examination of one of the most important pillars of government, and the cornerstone of economic policy making in our country…  I would also like thank Sir Bob Kerslake for his time, energy and expertise in producing this report for Labour.”

McDonnell’s spokesman insisted Kerslake is “independent”:

It’s also worth remembering that his work is as an independent.

— James Mills (@JamesMills1984) 11 December 2017

You can decide for yourself…

UPDATE: Sky News reports that Kerslake was asked to consider his position by NHS Improvement Chairwoman Baroness Harding on Friday.

Failure to get a Brexit deal would be “an utter and complete disaster” says former head of the civil service @SirBobKerslake #newsnight pic.twitter.com/JTSUTcFskF

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) September 5, 2017

Former head of the civil service Bob Kerslake is known as “Comrade Bob” by fellow peers for his lefty interventions in the Lords. Last night he revealed his view, no doubt shared by former colleagues, that a no deal Brexit would be “an utter and complete disaster”. Last night’s major leak to the Guardian on immigration is suspected to have come from disgruntled anti-Brexit civil servants, who handed the story to the most pro-immigration newspaper. Ministers feel they are the victim of a sabotage attempt from mandarins who are supposed to be politically neutral. Anyone in any doubt as to the views of panjandrums should look at the Twitter feed of former Treasury permanent secretary and Project Fear architect Nick Macpherson, who spends his whole time these days moaning about Brexit. When pro-Remain pundits talk about Brexiters becoming the new establishment they have it wrong, the civil service establishment hates the referendum result and is working to undermine it…

Panjandrum turned peer Bob Kerslake has never voted with the government since he joined the Lords a year ago. Even on votes where the majority of crossbench peers back the Tories, ‘independent’ Kerslake has always voted against. His tedious lefty interventions have seen him dubbed ‘Comrade Bob’ by ermine-clad colleagues.

This afternoon Kerslake has been trying to nobble the attempt to abolish trade union check-off, the outdated system where union subs are automatically taken from civil servants’ pay packets, instead of making them opt in to pay. Comrade Bob not only wants this covert union funding to stay, he wants to expand it to “Any employee whose employer deducts income tax”. A bizarre intervention which would end up costing businesses tens of millions of pounds a year…