When will our pathetic civil servants stop moaning and just do their jobs?
One unnamed civil servant was quoted as saying: 'I've never been so glad to see the back of a government.' Another gurgled: 'I feel professionally revitalised knowing that the adults are in charge.'
Less than a year on, however, it seems that the mood in Whitehall isn't quite so euphoric. Some mandarins are finding that 'the adults' aren't to their taste, either. Or so I infer from the following story about the Foreign Office.
Last month, more than 300 civil servants signed a letter to David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary. It questioned the continued sale of arms to Israel, accused the Government of contributing to 'the erosion of global norms', and complained about what its signatories saw as a 'stark… disregard for international law'.
Now they've received a reply. But it probably isn't the one they were hoping for. Because Sir Oliver Robbins, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, has written them a letter of his own – calmly explaining that, if they don't like the Government's policy on this or any other issue, they know where the door is. 'If your disagreement with any aspect of Government policy or action is profound,' he writes, 'your ultimate recourse is to resign from the civil service'.
This is an admirably courteous way of putting it. Because he could very easily have gone for: 'Who the hell do you jumped-up busybodies think you are? You're civil servants, for crying out loud. Obeying the Government's orders is your literal job, whether you like it or not. The Government was elected. You weren't. So if you want to hang on to that gold-plated pension, you'll do what you're told and shut up.'
Personally, I wish he had put it as bluntly as that. It's not often that I feel compelled to defend Sir Keir and co. But, like any administration, they deserve to know that Whitehall is there to serve them, not undermine them with letters of sanctimonious complaint. Which is why I feel we're entitled to ask: when will our pathetic civil servants stop moaning and just do their jobs?
At any rate, Labour party members must be in a panic. They'll be thinking: 'It was bad enough when we lost the support of the working class. But if we've lost the support of the lanyard class, we really are toast.'
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