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| Bernard Jenkin's attack shows his hatred of Europe has got the better of him | Bernard Jenkin's attack shows his hatred of Europe has got the better of him |
| (5 days later) | |
| MP Jenkin has overstepped the mark with a lily-livered, contradictory attack on Whitehall over Brexit | MP Jenkin has overstepped the mark with a lily-livered, contradictory attack on Whitehall over Brexit |
| Tue 10 Oct 2017 07.38 BST | Tue 10 Oct 2017 07.38 BST |
| Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 15.31 GMT | |
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| If some obscure backbench MP came out and attacked the civil service, we’d shrug: all too predictable. Whitehall is well used to getting it from both sides (though shadow chancellor John MacDonnell’s proximity to power seems recently to have tempered left-wing criticism). | If some obscure backbench MP came out and attacked the civil service, we’d shrug: all too predictable. Whitehall is well used to getting it from both sides (though shadow chancellor John MacDonnell’s proximity to power seems recently to have tempered left-wing criticism). |
| But when the assailant is Bernard Jenkin, the harsh words reverberate. Jenkin has been chair of the Commons public administration committee for seven years and has been a temperate but persistent inquirer into the operations and principles of our permanent government – different from, but a worthy successor to Tony Wright, who established the committee under the Labour government. | But when the assailant is Bernard Jenkin, the harsh words reverberate. Jenkin has been chair of the Commons public administration committee for seven years and has been a temperate but persistent inquirer into the operations and principles of our permanent government – different from, but a worthy successor to Tony Wright, who established the committee under the Labour government. |
| On most issues, Jenkin has been able to leave party and partisanship behind, in the best traditions of Commons select committees. But now his hatred of Europe has got the better of them and he has piled into that old favourite, the “Whitehall mind”. Specifically he has attacked the alleged refusal of Treasury officials to listen; which means, it turns out, the refusal of Tom Scholar, the most senior civil servant in the Treasury, and his colleagues to suborn their intellectual judgement to the Brexiteers’ insistence that everything in the garden is lovely and will remain in radiant bloom no matter what the data, analysis and objective evidence say. | On most issues, Jenkin has been able to leave party and partisanship behind, in the best traditions of Commons select committees. But now his hatred of Europe has got the better of them and he has piled into that old favourite, the “Whitehall mind”. Specifically he has attacked the alleged refusal of Treasury officials to listen; which means, it turns out, the refusal of Tom Scholar, the most senior civil servant in the Treasury, and his colleagues to suborn their intellectual judgement to the Brexiteers’ insistence that everything in the garden is lovely and will remain in radiant bloom no matter what the data, analysis and objective evidence say. |
| Jenkin has said he is not attacking chancellor Philip Hammond, but the Treasury staff around him. | Jenkin has said he is not attacking chancellor Philip Hammond, but the Treasury staff around him. |
| This won’t do – for three reasons. | This won’t do – for three reasons. |
| Jenkin’s attack is lily-livered. He knows full well that Scholar and his colleagues cannot answer back or defend themselves. On behalf of the civil service at large, cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood keeps schtumm, as he has throughout his tenure. All we’re likely to get is a press release from the FDA, which represents senior civil servants and contemptuous tweets from Nick Macpherson, the former permanent secretary at the Treasury. | Jenkin’s attack is lily-livered. He knows full well that Scholar and his colleagues cannot answer back or defend themselves. On behalf of the civil service at large, cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood keeps schtumm, as he has throughout his tenure. All we’re likely to get is a press release from the FDA, which represents senior civil servants and contemptuous tweets from Nick Macpherson, the former permanent secretary at the Treasury. |
| Second, Jenkin contradicts himself. He has conducted several hearings and evidence gathering sessions over the years that have concluded that there is no dominant Whitehall mentality. In fact he has often (rightly) bemoaned the weakness of the centre of Whitehall and the faltering way in which civil servants are trained up. | Second, Jenkin contradicts himself. He has conducted several hearings and evidence gathering sessions over the years that have concluded that there is no dominant Whitehall mentality. In fact he has often (rightly) bemoaned the weakness of the centre of Whitehall and the faltering way in which civil servants are trained up. |
| Third, Jenkin has ruined the inquiry that his very own committee has just begun. How can he investigate civil service effectiveness objectively when he has already concluded that civil servants don’t want evidence and won’t seek challenge? His inquiry might have called Scholar and Heywood before it to ask them about pluralism; instead they have been prejudged. | Third, Jenkin has ruined the inquiry that his very own committee has just begun. How can he investigate civil service effectiveness objectively when he has already concluded that civil servants don’t want evidence and won’t seek challenge? His inquiry might have called Scholar and Heywood before it to ask them about pluralism; instead they have been prejudged. |
| Of course there are questions to be asked about Whitehall and Brexit, starting with departmental capacity, the hollowing out of expertise and the effects of pay caps – policies that Jenkin’s own party have put in place. There are questions, too, about how much further the model of Whitehall neutrality can go as the devolution dynamic plays out in Scotland and Wales and the unified civil service become sectionalised. | Of course there are questions to be asked about Whitehall and Brexit, starting with departmental capacity, the hollowing out of expertise and the effects of pay caps – policies that Jenkin’s own party have put in place. There are questions, too, about how much further the model of Whitehall neutrality can go as the devolution dynamic plays out in Scotland and Wales and the unified civil service become sectionalised. |
| But Jenkin’s real question is about his own party colleagues and the weakness of Theresa May’s government. Civil servants do what ministers ask them. There is absolutely no evidence that central tenet has weakened. But when ministers don’t know their own minds or can’t decide what to do – in other words where the Tory party is at over Brexit – what are civil servants supposed to do? | But Jenkin’s real question is about his own party colleagues and the weakness of Theresa May’s government. Civil servants do what ministers ask them. There is absolutely no evidence that central tenet has weakened. But when ministers don’t know their own minds or can’t decide what to do – in other words where the Tory party is at over Brexit – what are civil servants supposed to do? |
| What they must not do, which is what Jenkin seems to want, is to make ungrounded judgements about where public or political opinion is at or take their lead from raucous factions claiming to have found the holy grail. | What they must not do, which is what Jenkin seems to want, is to make ungrounded judgements about where public or political opinion is at or take their lead from raucous factions claiming to have found the holy grail. |
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