THE Prime Minister has sparked anger among UK Government staff after what has been called a “Trumpian” attack on the civil service.
Keir Starmer took aim at civil servants – under the general moniker “Whitehall” – as he replaced his “five missions” with “six milestones” in a speech on Thursday.
The Labour leader said that putting the “country first” was “something we’ve totally lost sight of in British politics and, to be honest, across Whitehall as well”.
He went on: “I don’t think there’s a swamp to be drained here, but I do think too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline.”
“I totally get that when trust in politics is so low we must be careful about the promises we make. But across Whitehall and Westminster that’s been internalised as ‘don’t say anything’, ‘don’t try anything too ambitious’, ‘set targets that will happen anyway’.”
He also said: “Make no mistake – this plan will land on desks across Whitehall with the heavy thud of a gauntlet being thrown down. A demand, given the urgency of our times for a state that is more dynamic … rather than replicate the status quo in digital form.”
The comments are reported to have sparked anger across the UK civil service – especially given that Labour promised a huge cultural shift away from the Tory practice of blaming a civil service “blob” for their own failures.
The news outlet Civil Service World quoted one member of UK Government staff as saying: "We were all ready to deliver for the new government, but he's going to have pissed off a huge number of people.
“Who's he even aiming that comment at? Has he been taking lessons from Jacob Rees-Mogg?"
Rees-Mogg, who held various senior positions in the previous Tory governments, became notorious for hounding civil servants – including by leaving “passive aggressive” notes on their desks.
Dave Penman, the general secretary of civil servants’ FDA union, told BBC Newsnight that Starmer did not understand “how damaging his words have been”.
“I was talking to civil service leaders today about the challenges that they face. I think they feel a sense of betrayal,” Penman said.
“They were told that this was going to be a different government. In the early days of this government ministers were walking around departments saying, 'we’re not going to be like the previous administration, we’ve got your back'. And yet here we are five months in with that Trumpian language that is getting used.
“Why you would invoke that language when you're talking about the civil service I think is just astonishing.”
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote also criticised Starmer’s comments, saying: “One of the reasons trust in politics is so low is because of politicians’ refusal to be accountable for anything. It’s always someone else’s fault.
“To blame civil servants, who every day work above and beyond to keep the country running, for failing to deliver reform is inaccurate and, worse, cowardly. Accusing people who can’t answer back.”
