Risking reputation

Britain's civil service is criticised for a variety of reasons but I believe it has always been respected for its strict political neutrality. It was surprising therefore that last Monday the Daily Telegraph published an article entitled “Margaret Thatcher: Our Kindly Boss” whose joint authors were Britain's two most senior civil servants -- Sir Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary, and Bob Kerslake, Head of the Home Civil Service.

At a meeting of the Commons Public Administration Select Committee yesterday morning they ran into a barrage of criticism from its Labour members one of whom described the article as “sycophantic” and “a prostitution of their profession”.

Since I have not seen more than brief excerpts from the article I cannot comment on its propriety. Its authors have said it expresses the views of several senior and retired civil servants that Margaret Thatcher was a fine team leader and also considerative of her staff -- even serving home made shepherds pie from the Number 10 kitchen during all-night working sessions.
(Harold Wilson never improved on his beer and sandwiches for such occasions.) But members of the Commons Committee yesterday drew attention to the article's praise for Conservative policies and the lack of any critical perspective of the Thatcher times. It certainly seems odd that these two top civil servants would so unnecessarily risk putting the Civil Service's hard-earned reputation in this way.