Civil Service
How serious is the Starmer sleaze row?
Another week, another accusation of sleaze in relation to the Labour party. After initially winning some plaudits over the summer…
Whoever you vote for, the Blob wins
At the age of 66 I feel like a first-time voter. As a member of the House of Lords, I…
The asexual revolution
Who could have foreseen that half a century after the sexual revolution we’d be facing its exact opposite: an asexual…
Fish out of water
As a one-nation Tory, Rory Stewart was not a good fit in the party’s new incarnation. We discover how his desire to make the world a better place was always going to work against him
The battle with the Blob
Most prime ministers fall out with the civil service at some point. David Cameron attacked the ‘enemies of enterprise’; Tony…
The civil service’s exercise in navel-gazing
Navel-gazing in the civil service
Who governs Britain? Not ministers, it seems
Who governs Britain? It’s a dangerous question, as Ted Heath learned half a century ago. But while he was concerned…
Who would join Boris's No. 10?
Munira Mirza’s resignation over Boris Johnson’s refusal to withdraw his Savile barb at Keir Starmer led to Downing Street bringing…
Letters: Our broken civil service
Beyond the party Sir: Rod Liddle is spot-on in arguing that the attitudes revealed by ‘partygate’ extend to senior civil…
The truth about that No. 10 party
People seem surprised and a little doubting that the Prime Minister is incapable of remembering if he attended a party…
Boris should keep copying Blair
Having written here at least once before that Boris Johnson is the heir to Blair, my first thought on the Prime…
Was the civil service compromised by the Salmond affair?
The fallout from David Davis’s intervention in the Alex Salmond affair is all about the messages. The texts which the…
Is Britain a nation in fear of safetyism?
It should come as no surprise that Britain’s city centres remain, in the words of CBI chief Carolyn Fairbairn, ‘ghost…
Can Simon Case restore stability to the heart of government?
Boris Johnson does not get everything wrong. The appointment of Simon Case to be head of the civil service at…
Government jobs don’t have to be in the capital
Home-working shows how many government jobs can be moved out of London
The Tories cannot afford a war with the civil service
Thirteen years ago, when John Reid became Home Secretary, he declared the ministry he presided over ‘not fit for purpose’.…
Will Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings be knocked off course by Sir Philip Rutnam’s resignation?
There are a handful of big things to watch out for following Sir Philip Rutnam’s resignation as Home Office Permanent Secretary:…
What difference will ‘weirdos and misfits’ make to the civil service?
Dominic Cummings has written a modest blog inviting mathematicians, physicists, AI specialists and other experts to help him revolutionise the…
I admit it: I enjoyed the Women’s World Cup
I was asked on to the BBC Today programme — my old manor — last week to talk about the…
How does David Attenborough know what the monkeys are thinking?
The opening episode of BBC1’s Dynasties — the new Attenborough-fronted series from the Natural History Unit — introduced us to…
How Aristotle would hire civil servants
The civil service is to be allowed to find out what job applicants’ ‘socio-economic background’ is. What abject drivel is…
Brexit, George Osborne, and the art of post-factual politics
The Chancellor and PM are using every dirty trick in the Blairite book to win a Remain vote
300 signatures can be wrong. How about 2 million?
Name check 306 business people signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph saying that Britain would be better off outside…
The ‘leave’ campaign is right not to lay out a plan for Britain’s future
The ‘remain’ campaign is having some success with the line that the ‘leave’ camp cannot say what Britain outside the…
Mandarins routinely take Fridays off and sometimes can't spell ministers' names. Why does this go on?
It’s a fact that most ministers are most scared, not of their political rivals but of their civil servants. Ministers…
