When I chaired the FDA, the senior civil servants’ union, in the late 1980s, something similar to the current breakdown in relations between ministers and civil servants was taking place (No 10 accused of helping to smear civil servants as Patel row deepens, 2 March). There had been several years of complaints from ministers about an elective dictatorship and the dangers of politicising the civil service. A famous leak from Thatcher’s inner circle added weight to the complaints, when she asked, before confirming the appointment of the permanent secretary to the Treasury, if he was “one of us”.
Some bizarre policies were implemented during this period, among the most glaring of which were the poll tax and a series of privatisations, some of which were doomed to fail. This, as with the present government, represented the triumph of ideology over common sense, and could be directly linked to attempts to freeze civil servants out of the decision-making process while increasing the number of political advisers.
Under pressure from the FDA, a code of conduct was drawn up covering the relationship between government and the civil service. This only worked up to a point, because effective relations are only possible when reasonable people behave reasonably.
The row that has forced Sir Philip Rutnam to resign as permanent secretary of the Home Office in the face of alleged bullying of staff by the home secretary, and the apparent lack of concern of the prime minister in this and other cases, are sure signs that relations are in for a further bruising time. This is already leading to ineffective governance from which we shall all suffer.
Alan Healey
Baschurch, Shropshire
• William Davies provides profound insight in his analysis that the humanities provide a common enemy, uniting the nationalists and free marketeers of contemporary conservatism (Journal, 28 February).
With a cruel, self-regarding government, an inept opposition, a cowed civil service and thuggish advisers, Westminster and Whitehall at best neglect, though more often attack, institutions, individuals and learning that aid the understanding of our common humanity.
Further, humanities are not the preserve of an Oxbridge elite. There are plenty of the rest of us who value the teaching of English literature, history and art, our libraries, the BBC and freely accessible works of art, though we are probably guilty of not saying this enough. We need to fight for the study of these subjects at all levels. In the long run, they should help to inform more kindly and better-disposed administrations. In the short term, the humanities can inform how we might cope with the daily brutalism and brutality of this government.
Alan Coombe
London
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