Gabriel Pogrund Profile picture
Oct 3, 2020 16 tweets 4 min read Read on X
At Tory conference today, @rosskempsell chaired a superb @Policy_Exchange panel on the civil service — offering rare insight into govt plans for Whitehall

It confirmed "hard rain's gonna fall" thesis, yes, but possibly on ministers as well as mandarins

Some highlights here 1/
Lord Theodore Agnew, Cabinet Office minister + key figure behind Whitehall revolution, revealed "I'm pushing very very hard to get senior civil service posts out of London"

There's too much "metropolitan elite type thinking", it's "suffocating", stifles "diversity of thought" 2/
The clear implication is this will not merely be junior officials. Nor limited to quangos or arms-length bodies - ie ONS to Newport or Environment Agency to Bristol in the past

"The key element" he said, is getting "higher propotion of senior civil servants" outside the M25 3/
Baroness Simone Finn, non-executive board member of Cabinet Office, says there's "outrageous" disparity b/w "grand mandarins" developing policy and "below the salt" officials delivering it. No "parity of esteem"

So mandarins overpowered but disconnected from effect of policy 4/
(On grand mandarins, she's "very pleased" to see greater churn among permanent secretaries, thanks to fixed-term contracts introduced under coalition.

It's "part of the accountability of the official to the minister" took a swipe at the papers overreacting to recent events) 5/
Finn and Agnew believe there's an under-utilised weapon in the war to improve Whitehall— letters of ministerial direction

This is where a minister formally tells their dept to proceed with a spending proposal, despite an objection from their permanent secretary 6/
Finn says this has often been seen as a "nuclear option", must it be used more

The effect will be twofold: leave officials in no doubt about govt priorities

And it will raise pressure of ministers: "it puts accountability fairly and squarely where it should be" 7/
In other words, on the minister's head be it.

But the quid pro quo is no officials smiling politely as ministers give orders that they then ignore

Finn said: "I think it's a very clear, sensible way of doing things"

8/
Surprisingly, Agnew and Finn were clear that ministers also need to up their game

Agnew: They need to get far better training "so they have the confidence to take these decisions".

Finn: Ministerial induction and training is "absolutely critical"

9/
Agnew suggested civil servants must never be allowed to bamboozle ministers with superior expertise on complex areas

If ministers become more literate in their policy remit and in delivery, they can challenge status-quo bias and resistance from officials

10/
Agnew also said training for officials will become more rigorous and dynamic too

But ATM he can't understand where hundreds of millions are supposedly going on existing courses

"I can't get it all on a page...It's been a labyrinth to get our hands around the whole ..." 11/
training landscape that is just so convoluted, but by flook some major contracts on trainug are up at the moment".

Expect training to be farmed out beyond the Big Four

In the meantime, he is going to produce a central library of all training resources 12/
Zooming out, a lot of what Agnew and Finn said was surprisingly uncontroversial

Even David Lidington - that great icon of Vote Leave etc - agreed that "Whitehall does need to be less introverted and more willing to let ministers be personally exposed to outside opinions" 13/
And Dame Hodgson said we need a smaller, smarter and more skilled civil service.

The question, then, is how radical and effective the government is actually going to be in dispersing London-based senior civil service, reinforcing accountability and improving expertise 14/
More on this in tomorrow's ST, including the revelation that Treasury is likely to locate Treasury campus in Darlington - near Teesside Intl Airport and Rishi's seat to boot

And officials have examined plans to move DCMS to Manchester/Leeds and MHCLG to the Midlands. 15/
OH. And you can stream the convo here:



ends

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More from @Gabriel_Pogrund

Sep 14
EXCLUSIVE: Keir Starmer broke parliamentary rules by failing to declare that a donor bought designer clothes for his wife, Victoria.

The PM faces an investigation after he did not disclose gifts from Lord Alli — peer who also buys his suits and glasses. thetimes.com/uk/arts/articl…
It is said Starmer's team contacted parliamentary authorities after Lady Starmer was offered clothes, jewellery and makeup from various brands

After being told she would have to declare any gifts, the team realised Alli's gifts should have been declared, source say. Spox here: Image
Like all MPs, the prime minister is personally responsible for following the Code of Conduct.

The rules are designed to protect politics from improper influence and uphold transparency.
Read 7 tweets
Sep 6
In 2021, we revealed the King secretly gave a CBE to a Saudi donor who paid millions in a deal brokered by royal aides

Paying for an honour is a crime

But The Met covered up the scandal, never investigating properly or speaking to the men at its heart—Charles and the Saudi
1/5
Despite Charles repeatedly secretly meeting the Saudi in a years long courtship across three countries, including on official visits, he has never had to answer any questions.

Michael Fawcett, his right hand man, took the blame, leaving as chief executive of his foundation.
2/5
Its chairman quit too and several trustees. But its own internal inquiry was never published and countless questions remain about Charles’s ties to the Saudi and his role in a web of suspicious deals and payments.

3/5
Read 5 tweets
Jun 21
EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Hunt’s re-election campaign and CCHQ have accepted tens of thousands from a dormant shell company with undisclosed ties to a Mayfair private equity fund

The Tory Treasurer's department initially rejected donations from "Ironduke Management", fearing it broke Electoral Commission rules, then U-turned

Here's the story🧵Image
Image
Ironduke Management is registered at 10 Piccadilly , but has no physical premises or website or phone number.

The sole director and shareholder is a woman called Jennifer Dowling. It's actually run by her husband, Tom Dowling, who describes himself as a tax consultant

Since its creation in 2018, it has registered itself as a dormant company.Image
Image
It is currently the subject of a final notice from Companies House to file its accounts.

If it fails to do so, it will be forcibly dissolved in May. 

Its last accounts said it had £1 in cash and assets and described the firm’s activity as “financial intermediation”. Image
Read 11 tweets
May 25
EXCLUSIVE: Labour has re-branded its flagship package of workers rights and employment reforms.

The New Deal will now be known as Labour's Plan To Make Work Pay

Starmer wants to sharpen core message of putting money in people's pockets and reassure business thetimes.co.uk/article/labour…
A final document confirms legislative process to start within 100 days of a Labour govt - rather than be completed within that time frame.

It still includes key commitments on reversing Conservative trade union legislation, ending fire and rehire, and introducing day on rights
It says business to be consulted fully before legislation is finalised.

And confirms watering down of zero hours ban.

Right to switch off to disappear from main branding.
Read 5 tweets
May 16
BREAKING 🚨 Pensions minister Paul Maynard found guilty of expenses breaches after inquiry by IPSA following Sunday Times investigation

Blackpool North MP Maynard:

1) used taxpayer funds to "produce overly political materials promoting the [Conservative] party and his re-election"

2) "under-reported" Tory use of taxpayer funded office



🧵assets.ctfassets.net/w59ykwiqehvh/5…Image
Maynard has been ordered to repay cash used to rent state-of-the-art printer and produce Tory leaflets.

He's made another repayment after claiming his party did not use his taxpayer funded office when it did.

And his abuse of the rules has led the IPSA investigator to propose all MPs are banned from using their offices for party purposes in any context.
Damning findings do not find wrongdoing over Maynard's extraordinary £106,000 total claims for printing - top of any Tory MP - as "comprehensive audit" impossible due to "resource constrains"

But two breaches are clear and admitted by MP, leaving him exposed to referral to standards commissioner.
Read 4 tweets
Apr 6
EXCLUSIVE 🚨 The Sunday Times has obtained "black box" data from a tracking device inside the Mercedes rental car used by Akbar Shamji — a suspect in the case of teenager Zac Brettler's death.

We have used its GPS data to create minute-by-minute reconstruction of his movements on the night.

It shatters his story and shows he lied to police repeatedly during their investigation.

Met had the data, but failed to analyse it in depth, so never confronted him about inconsistencies, such as his claim he was at home during fatal fall:



🧵thetimes.co.uk/article/the-de…
Former bankrupt crypto investor Shamji and gangster Dave Sharma were the last people to see Brettler alive.

They confronted him about money they felt he owed them before he jumped off a 5th floor flat opposite MI6 headquarters.

A coroner delivered an "open verdict" meaning his death was suspicious but its cause unknown.
Before and after his death, Shamji was driving a rental vehicle fitted with a state-of-the-art tracking device, whose data we have analysed over several months.

He told police he went home hours before Brettler's fatal jump at 2.24am. In fact, he was in the same building. He had returned after taking call from Sharma and suddenly speeding back at 80 km/h. He went upstairs and remained alone with Sharma for 11 minutes.

Data shows other striking details such as detour over Vauxhall Bridge just after he had gone down to the river by foot and "looked for Zac" in the water.
Read 5 tweets

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