The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has been accused of allowing fake news to flourish after refusing to debunk false claims that civil servants in his department demanded the removal of a portrait of the Queen.
Dave Penman, the head of the FDA senior civil servants union, has claimed that Kwarteng is damaging morale within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy after ignoring requests to publicly correct reports that staff had replaced the portrait with a smaller picture of the monarch.
The row comes amid deepening anger among civil servants that they are being unfairly and repeatedly vilified in anonymous quotes from ministerial aides.
The current row in BEIS was sparked by a report in the Daily Telegraph on 1 January under the headline, “How a portrait of the Queen that is ‘the size of a stamp’ has ruffled feathers in Kwasi Kwarteng’s business department”.
An official was quoted telling the newspaper: “I think some of my colleagues forget we work for her majesty’s government.” A second added: “The new picture [of the Queen] is the size of a stamp. It’s laughable really.”
The article also claimed that a memorial plaque commemorating officials from the former Ministry of Power who died during the second world war had been consigned to the “basement” of the building. The report was based on anonymous quotes from sources.
After BEIS staff complained about the report, senior managers met union representatives. Documents show that BEIS managers agreed that staff did not try to downgrade a portrait of the Queen or remove a remembrance plaque. However, Kwarteng has not responded to pleas to correct the record.
Penman said the report upset staff, some of whom have relatives who died in the war. “You would think that Kwasi Kwarteng would be ashamed that his allies are not only spreading fake news stories about the civil service, but that they would view a remembrance plaque and a portrait of the Queen as convenient tools with which to spread false and malicious accusations,” he said.
“Instead, he’s happy for these stories to run without challenge or public comment despite being asked to do so, damaging the reputation of his department and the civil servants who work there.
“The irony is, of course, that those civil servants know exactly where these stories emanate from and his excuse for refusing to respond – their anonymous source – is as insulting as it is transparent.
“He must understand the damage this does to morale and trust among his civil servants, all for the sake of a cheap headline.”
The latest clash follows a series of claims from unions that the government is briefing against civil servants. Unions have complained that the “partygate” allegations have led to resignations by civil servants while politicians have remained in post.
Priti Patel’s former senior civil servant, Sir Philip Rutnam, resigned in March 2020 claiming he had been “the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign”.
Anonymous briefings to the press have also suggested that officials working from home have failed to pull their weight during the pandemic.
Asked to respond to Penman’s criticisms, a BEIS spokesperson said: “The Queen is our country’s head of state and it is right that her portrait is given pride of place in government departments with sufficient prominence. Following the renovations, we are pleased to now display two portraits of her majesty in the entrance to our offices in Westminster.”
