Top Scots civil servant now paid £180,000 moaned about long work days & joked about video game distraction
MOAN-DARIN Top Scots civil servant now paid £180,000 moaned about long work days & joked about video game distraction
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A TOP civil servant now on a £180,000 salary was last night blasted for moaning about his long working days.
Joe Griffin also joked to a colleague about being distracted from playing the video game Tetris.
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Joe Griffin with First Minister John Swinney
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Griffin joked to a colleague about being distracted playing the classic video game Tetris
Credit: Alamy
Newly unearthed texts sent during the pandemic also show the Scottish Government's new Permanent Secretary calling Boris Johnson 'irresponsible'.
The WhatApp messages were sent while Mr Griffin was £100,000-a-year Director of Safer Communities.
They emerged a week after Scotland's highest-ranked mandarin provoked anger by ruling home-working staff should not automatically be disciplined if they refuse to return to offices at least two days a week.
Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser hit out: 'Scots who lost loved ones or saw their business go to the wall during the pandemic will have little sympathy for this senior official moaning about long days.
'Mr Griffin also has a duty to steer clear of criticising politicians or his neutrality will be called into question.'
Chats from December 2020 obtained under freedom of information show his reply to an official who asked if a winter planning meeting was 'really needed'.
He said cancellation 'probably wouldn't go down well', then added: 'We should be prepared to do that in future — not just sleepwalk into even longer days becoming standard.
'Today started with pre-cabinet call for Humza (Yousaf) at 8.30am, in part to brief on a paper 87 pages long issued at 10.30pm.'
In a discussion about a meeting with John Swinney on November 17, 2020, another staffer was told by Mr Griffin they'd 'rudely interrupted my Tetris'.
By January 2021, then Prime Minister Mr Johnson was 'optimistic' Covid restrictions would be loosened.
Anas Sarwar promises to tackle Scotland's 'unfair' tax system
Mr Griffin hit out that this 'shows you how irresponsible the PM's promises are'.
Mr Griffin was appointed as Permanent Secretary formally on April 7.
In 2021, he was appointed as Director General for Education and Justice before becoming the head of the External Affairs Division.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Throughout the pandemic, the focus and intention of ministers, clinicians and officials was to protect people of Scotland from the harms of Covid-19, including providing advice and information about how to stay safe.'
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