Following yesterday’s publication of Michael Gove’s merit-based Civil Service reforms, former Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell has responded by claiming the report still won’t stop the approval of “white elephant” projects like HS2, and laid into the government for focusing on “the delivery of targets that miss the point” of achieving optimal outcomes.
Speaking on the Institute for Government Live podcast, O’Donnell said:
“How do we stop someone approving HS2 when on the basis of cost estimates that everyone knows is wildly optimistic…this document is quite heavy on the responsible owner part, which I think is a good thing, but you can be the responsible owner but can be dealing with a project that should never have gotten started. And my god, we end up with some big white elephants…“
Guido’s inclined to agree…
O’Donnell’s also on the money when it comes to government targets. Too often Ministers prioritise input rather than outcomes – like upping the number of police officers rather than trying to reduce crime stats – which, as the Institute for Government’s own report shows, “can create a culture of compliance that discourages innovation and prevents adequate services from excelling“. Gove’s reforms are a start, though there’s still clearly a way to go…
If Brexiteers needed any more proof that the senior echelons of the civil service are fanatically pro-Remain, former Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell was on hand to provide it this morning in The Times with a gushing endorsement of the Lib Dems. O’Donnell says it’s “deeply disappointing and very annoying” that the split Remain vote could lead to the Brexit Party doing “extremely well”, he says he will be voting Lib Dem and “urges all those who support Remain to do the same”. Telling, but hardly surprising, that the UK’s most senior civil servant under three successive Prime Ministers is coming out with such a full-throated endorsement of Remain…
I have come to the same conclusion as Michael Heseltine, for exactly the same reasons – and will be voting @LibDems in Thursday’s European Parliament elections.
— Andrew Cooper (@AndrewCooper__) May 21, 2019
David Cameron’s hapless former Downing Street head of strategy and embittered Remainer Andrew Cooper has also announced that he’s backing the Lib Dems. Cooper did sit for the Tories in the Lords, he’s now joined Heseltine on the naughty step with the whip suspended. With him on board the Lib Dems are guaranteed electoral success…
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…
“That is completely crazy”: @Gus_ODonnell rejects claims civil servants has attempted to sabotage Brexit. #Peston pic.twitter.com/vOKx9tyxjr
— Peston on Sunday (@pestononsunday) February 4, 2018
On the front page of the Observer the former head of the civil service Andrew Turnbull compares Brexiters to Nazis. On Peston his successor Gus O’Donnell called Leavers “completely crazy” snake oil salesmen. Guido won’t hold his breath for the same Twitter outrage as seen after the “mutineer” front pages criticising Remainers. Almost as if Rees-Mogg and Steve Baker have a point…
There’s a punchy interview with the departed head of the civil service Gus O’Donnell on the front page of the Indy. The former Cabinet Office bigwig has settled a few old scores with ‘out of touch’ ministers:
“There are still a few out there [who say:] ‘We send our kids to public schools, we have private health care, we travel by car or chauffeur, we don’t go on public transport… There are unfortunately too many people in politics who just don’t get it; who just don’t understand what life on benefits would be like… we need to really care about public services”.
While Guido likes GOD’s idea for primaries, it would be remiss for him not to point out that Gus sent his own daughter Kirsty to Alleyn’s, the private school in Dulwich. He also enjoyed the spoils of the Government Car Pool chauffeur service when in office, and was on a higher salary (and pension) than the PM. Just sayin’…
