Douglas Carswell's Blog

Don't let's be beastly to Sir Humphrey

The poor dears! According to Sue Cameron in today's Telegraph, the Sir Humphreys who preside over the British state are upset. They are, we're told, feeling miffed. So much so that they are quitting their departments in droves.

What seems to have upset our sensitive mandarinate? According to Sue Cameron, its those pesky politicians. They've started to insist that public officials do the things that they, the ministers, were elected to make happen.

The cheek! The horror!

Except of course it is nonsense. Far from doing what those we elect to Parliament would like, those who run government departments seem to determine public policy. Carry on Whitehall seems to be the big hit in SW1; the same mess over immigration, the same Continuity Brown at the Treasury, the same half hearted approach to reform.

This administration, much like Tony "scars on my back" Blair, has been worn down by the institutional inertia of the Whitehall machine. They saw off Steve Hilton.  See Boris Johnson's recent comments on government inertia.

Even the Civil Service reform Bill, an effort to make Sir Humphrey more accountable, has been captured by the mandarinate, proposals for change watered down to mushy nothingness. Instead of answering to the people through Parliament and ministers, some civil servants might occasionally be "assessed" by ministers. Gosh.

Sue Cameron tells us that ministers ought to jolly well leave Sir H alone, and "remember that it is our Civil Service". Who does she mean by "our"?  Media pundits lucky enough to get one-to-one briefings from Sir Humphrey about what a Roll Royce service he provides?

Those who make public policy ought to be made answerable to the public.  That means greater civil service accountability; confirmation hearings, annualised budgets approved by select committees and, even perhaps, P45s for failure.

Looking at what happened to the reforming zeal under first Blair, then the Coalition, it seems no government will be able to make the changes Britain needs until it takes on the Whitehall mandarinate.

Perhaps a future Tory government will need to deal with the mandarins of Whitehall much like Mrs Thatcher did the National Union of Miners?

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