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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rowena Mason and Matthew Weaver

Ministers’ attacks on civil servants ‘damaged Whitehall staff retention’

Jacob Rees-Mogg
Public attacks on civil servants include those by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has claimed since leaving office that ‘workshy and snowflakey’ civil servants frustrated his efforts to scrap a swath of EU laws. Photograph: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

Ministers’ disparaging public attacks on civil servants have damaged staff retention and morale in Whitehall, the government’s ethics watchdog has said.

Government officials have been accused of being “obstructive and furthering their own agenda”, according to the committee on standards in public life, which pointed to an erosion of the normal conventions that govern civil servants’ relationship with ministers.

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