Sir Gus warns the civil service

... of their duties.. not to end up by Christopher Galley with his head on a spike at Tower Bridge. In a speech tonight....

All civil servants serve the Government of the day. We are politically impartial and our actions are governed by the Civil Service Code. Political impartiality means we must serve the Government, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of our ability, no matter what are own political beliefs. To quote from the Code, this means acting “in a way which deserves and retains the confidence of Ministers, while at the same time ensuring that you will be able to establish the same relationship with those whom you may be required to serve in some future government.”

Comments

[Marcel]

Heads were place on pikes outside of London Bridge; Tower Bridge was built in the modern era.

[Mad_Max]

Good news for the BNP and the National Socialists?

"Political impartiality means we must serve the Government, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of our ability, no matter what are own political beliefs."

[Doug]

It's people like Gus O'Donnell who allowed the politicisation of the civil service and with nothing but muted approval. Remember it was Labour who first gave spin doctors the power to order civil servants to do their bidding.

[David Boothroyd]

Sir Gus O'Donnell was press secretary to John Major as Chancellor and Prime Minister for four years, so it's a little odd to find him accused of being a Labour partisan. And Doug, that order was overturned by Gordon Brown in one of his first actions as Prime Minister.

[Mac]

That seems a very reasonable and obvious thing for Sir Gus to say. The problem Brown has is that he can't say it because he encouraged leaks when he was in opposition.

[Doug]

It's near impossible to put the genie back in the bottle no matter what the Glorious Leader says. There are many civil servants who have operated under spin doctors. It is simply incredible to believe that they haven't been influenced and are susceptible to partiality. It will take at least a generation for it to be washed out the civil service. Who accused O'Donnell of being a Labour partisan? It only takes silence from those like O'Donnell, whose voices would make a difference, for unethical behaviour to be perpetrated.

[Kit Dowling]

Most rank and file Civil Servants are, in my experience, sick and tired of being politicised by the current governemnt, with their own leadership's tacit approval.
It has lead to an enormous increase in being blamed for the machinations of the various ministers, few of whom are fit to lick the boots of the average Civil Servant or other public sector employee.

[john]

I agree with 'Gus' : that has always been the formal position. In my 27 years work as a civil servant in Whitehall I served governments of different political hues to the best of my ability. If at any time I had found the policies I was involved with to be really contrary to my personal principles, I should have had to resign & THEN blow the whistle as a 'knowledgeable outsider' It is immoral to take pay from the government as a civil servant and actively work against their interests.
PS:real 'politicisation of the civil service' in modern times started with 'Maggie T': promotion to the top slots depended upon whether the person was considered by her & her cronies to be 'One of Us'.
John