Top civil servant, Sir Mark Sedwell, is to be dismissed tomorrow.

Prof Tanja Bueltmann
@cliodiaspora

And with this political appointment the Civil Service as we know it is done. Of course that’s exactly what Cummings wanted all along. Cummings, an unelected and unaccountable man in contempt of parliament ... but in charge of everything. Welcome to your new sovereignty, dear UK.

The future is looking grim

Ken Clarke
@MrKennethClarke
·
14h
Text from Sir Mark Sedwill:

‘I can’t cope with this any longer Ken. Honestly, these bastards make Katie Hopkins look like Mother Teresa’

The Ken Clarke account is a spoof, Wwmk2

The question is, will Sedwill actually spill the beans once he's out? Sadly, I doubt it. Cummings would probably put a contract out on him if he did

Blimey how can you tell?

I doubt that Sir Mark Sedwill has heard of Katie Hopkins

It would have a blue tick, Ww. I don't think anyone as high profile as Ken Clarke would not have one (so as to signal that any others are imitations)

It's an amusing account, though..

I have white ticks, I suppose it’s the same?

Never noticed them or at least didn’t appreciate their significance.

Irrespective of one's politics, we should all be concerned about this politicisation of the civil service. I was going to tackle you Ug on your blind faith that any thing that makes your Brexit fantasy come true must be good, however undemocratic, however bonkers, but, I really cannot be bothered to argue with someone who things that Johnson is a great guy doing a great job. Waste of time. I hope you are enjoying your sangria, served by the very people that you no longer wish the UK to do business with.

Urmstongran - how do you think that sacking Sir Mark Sedwill and the planned civil service reforms are really going to improve your life?

Don't bother to mention Brexit in your reply because this is about the civil service going forward.

Yesterday I asked Firecracker123 to tell us all exactly what reforms are needed, backed up by evidence, of course, but answer came there none.

Can you help Firecracker123 out?

lemongrove

MaizieD

Certain depts though have done their level best to put off work done on policies hoping for a change of Minister etc.

How do you know that, lemon? Insider information?

Yes ( see my first post on this thread)
I don’t pretend to know a huge deal about the inner workings of the CS so don’t know if replacing Sedwell is a good move or not, but if it’s felt he should go and somebody else would be better in the job then so be it.That happens everywhere.

^ according to a friend’s son we know ( who works in one of those depts.)^

Gossip then, lemon?

The sort of thing you would utterly pooh pooh had it been an article in the Guardian...

Why no word from firecracker to back up her assertion ?

I think we have to just Beleave, Lucca...

GillT57, I am with you on the concern we should feel about the Civil Service being politicised. I feel pretty anxious about the great loss of experience and 'insider' knowledge of all sorts of areas we are losing. People will be appointed because they facilitate whatever the Minister wants whether it is for the good of all or only a few. However, perhaps the fly in the ointment will be that many of these new appointments will not want their only reputation to be that they were 'yes' people.

Apparently "Yes Minister" was Margaret Thatcher's favourite tv show, because it made fun of senior civil servants yet to some extent rung true.

Sir Humphrey and his colleagues were a lot cleverer and better informed than Jim Hacker and the other ministers. They were experts, and they kept the ministers out of trouble and safeguarded the country as far as they could against the potentially disastrous effects of ill-considered policies .

Do we really want a politicised civil service like they have in the USA where well paid jobs are given to yes men, not because of any knowledge or expertese but because they will do as they are told, never mind what damage it might do to the country?

www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/latest/larchview

Insightful monologue from the National Theatre of Scotland which illustrates that top Civil Servants are human too.

Hint: Have the paper hankies to hand before you watch.

varian Yes Minister was funny but did have some truth in it.
Sir Humphrey also stopped Hacker from putting forward some good policies because it didn’t suit him or the CS or because he had some Machiavellian plot cooking.

I think a lot of civil servants have been working to their own agenda for many years rather than what the elected government of the time was voted in to do. As Mr Trump said, time to remove the swamp.

Yes, I agree, time Trump should go.

Civil servants have had a hard time of it trying to advise ministers for very many years with ministers ignoring their safe and lawful advice, preferring to listen to dangerous SPADS instead.

MaizieD I can’t go into more details, but he is in a senior position.He says Sedwell isn’t popular, and although S has only been in the top job for a couple of years had made many enemies which has caused problems internally.
Obviously none of us on here know all the ins and outs of it, but the PM has to have confidence in whoever is in that job and once that goes, it’s time for a replacement.

I have been waiting a long time to see a GNet Trump fan to mention "the swamp"

Thank you QQ I know you are a Ukipper but you have exceeded my expectations.

Dominic Cummings is a strange character but I don’t think he is the dark and dangerous man some people give him credit for being ( although I bet he enjoys his reputation.)

QQ, the swamp which Trump was going to 'drain' is exactly what we will end up with here if Cummings gets his way. A politically appointed administration, with no independence. He was talking about the Obama appointees. Of course, we all know that his own appointees have done a great job, including his own family..........

quizqueen

I think a lot of civil servants have been working to their own agenda for many years rather than what the elected government of the time was voted in to do. As Mr Trump said, time to remove the swamp.

Do you have evidence other than gossip that civil servants have been working to their own agenda?

Oh dear - it's quizqueen again! If you look at the thread about the Government being taken to court over the deaths of care homes residents she thinks it is easy to look after elderly relatives at home and that this is what everyone should be doing!

I don't know what newspaper you read quizqueen or maybe it's social media that is the source of your notion that civil servants have a secret agenda and are allowed to block what Ministers want.

Like growstuff I would like to see your evidence for this in recent times, leaving Brexit out of it if you can. I know it's hard if you're a UKIPper but there's more going on than just getting out of the EU you know.

Which Government policies have been blocked or subverted in recent years by the civil service? We need specifics like the policy, the name of the civil servant involved and when this happened to prove you're right and to get an idea of how prevalent this really is.

If you can't provide these simple facts, don't expect your assertions to be taken seriously.

Theresa May has just shredded this government over the Sedwell affair.