Afternoon summary
The coffin carrying the Queen has been brought to Westminster Hall, where it will lie in state for four days before her funeral on Monday. Members of the public will soon start filing past, and the queue is currently two and a half miles long, according to the DCMS tracker on YouTube. There is further coverage on our separate live blog.
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Sacking of Tom Scholar shows Truss administration on course for 'bad decision making', says former permanent secretary
The sacking of Tom Scholar as permanent secretary at the Treasury shows that the Liz Truss administration is on course for “bad decision-making and weak government”, a retired senior civil servant says today.
In a letter published in the Times Sir David Normington, a former permanent secretary at the Home Office, says the move also suggests that Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, her chancellor, just want to be surrounded by “yes” men. He says:
The sad fact is that in sacking Sir Tom Scholar, one of the ablest civil servants of his generation, the prime minister and chancellor have sent a clear message to the civil service that they are not interested in impartial advice and intend to surround themselves with “yes” men and women. That is a sure route to bad decision-making and weak government. It is also another small step on the road to politicising the civil service. It is disappointing that the cabinet secretary, whom the prime minister apparently now intends to retain (“Truss decides against sacking Case”, Sep 12; letter, Sep 13), has acquiesced in the sacking and once again failed to stand up for the values of the civil service.
In a separate letter Lord Wilson, a former cabinet secretary, describes Scholar’s sacking as “destabilising”. He says:
To summarily dismiss a key top official, judged by most people to be outstanding, at this moment is destabilising. It is contrary to established practice and is bound to create ripples as consequential moves take place. It may affect morale; there has already been a distressing loss of talent over the past decade.
To make political attacks on the Treasury is similarly self-destructive. It looks like an attempt to shift on to institutions the blame for the failure of ministers’ own past policies. Civil servants will implement whatever the government decides, loyally and with energy, as they always have done. This should be a moment for bonding, not attacking.
In a report for the Times, Chris Smith and Henry Zeffman say that Truss herself pushed for Scholar to be sacked. They write:
The announcement of the sacking was made by Kwasi Kwarteng, the new chancellor, but a government source said Truss had been personally determined to remove him. Truss, who was chief secretary to the Treasury for two years under Theresa May, is said to have been persuaded then of the need for new leadership at the department.
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