This week’s dramatic reshuffle has inevitably focused on the ups and downs of Conservative careers – the surprise departure of William Hague and the shock demotion of Michael Gove, alongside a clutch of ministerial promotions and casualties. Less noticed but in some ways just as significant was the announcement of a further shake-up in the senior civil service. Jeremy Heywood, easily the most powerful official in a generation, famed for his ability to win the confidence of ministers while speaking truth to power, is to assume the overarching role of cabinet secretary. Heywood will not just advise the prime minister on policy, but act as head of the civil service, with the announcement that Bob Kerslake is to stand down next February. Heywood’s appointment is important, not least because he will be the most senior civil servant responsible for managing the transition between governing parties following next year’s general election.
Labour governments in the past harboured reservations about the neutrality and legitimacy of the civil service, but Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown each learned that getting things done meant working with Whitehall mandarins who were willing to bend the government machinery in order to help the government of the day achieve its goals. Heywood will be well known to many of the politicians in a post-2015 Labour cabinet, helping to smooth the transition of power. The bigger question both for an incoming Labour government and the senior civil service, however, will be how far to continue the proposed reforms of the permanent bureaucracy initiated after 2010 by Francis Maude and Oliver Letwin.
It is easy to underestimate the sweep and ambition of the coalition’s reforms, but the implications are potentially enormous in shaping Whitehall’s capacity to deliver. Ministers are to be given a greater say in the appointment of permanent secretaries, who will work to five-year ‘performance contracts’ agreed with their political masters. Handpicked teams of political policy advisers will work in ministerial ‘cabinets’, offering alternative advice to the civil service on a much bigger scale than anything envisaged in the current system of special advisers. There will be tougher competition for top civil service jobs, while the private sector will play a larger role in the implementation of policy. The goal is a transformation in Whitehall’s operating model and delivery culture.
The natural instinct of Labour might be to oppose the reforms on the basis that they threaten long-standing constitutional principles, not least the neutrality and impartiality of the permanent bureaucracy. The Conservatives’ vision seems to be a model akin to the ‘market state’ where the public sector is made to run on principles similar to the private sector with an injection of competition, market-testing, outsourcing and contestability. You do not need to be an ardent defender of the public sector status quo to be concerned about the impact on public service values and the public interest.
Nonetheless, sooner or later Labour will need to work out where it stands on civil service reform in a context where politicians of all parties have grown increasingly impatient with Whitehall’s performance. Under Ed Miliband, the party has major plans to refashion British capitalism and to radically reform the British state, significantly advancing devolution and decentralisation. Labour will have to decide whether the Whitehall status quo is sufficient, or whether its own reform plans will be needed.
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Patrick Diamond is Lecturer in Public Policy at Queen Mary University of London, and author of Governing Britain: Power, Politics and the Prime Minister. He tweets @PatrickDiamond1
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