the times | Monday June 29 2020 2GM 5
News
Michael Gove has warned senior ranks
of the civil service to expect sweeping
reforms in a stinging critique of its fail-
ures which he says are helping to drive
voters’ disaffection with political elites.
The minister responsible for the Cab-
inet Office, the department that co-
ordinates Whitehall, said that the Cov-
id crisis had made the need for govern-
ment change more urgent.
Mr Gove signalled more relocations
from London, fast-tracking numerate
officials, properly evaluating existing
programmes and protecting those will-
ing to experiment even if it meant
short-term failure.
In a critique shared with his former
aide Dominic Cummings, now Boris
Johnson’s senior adviser, Mr Gove lam-
basted the senior civil service for its
“cultural condescension” towards those
who voted Leave in the 2016 Brexit ref-
erendum.
“It is not just that all major govern-
ment departments are based in
London, with the impact that concen-
tration of senior jobs has on our eco-
nomy,” Mr Gove said in the annual lec-
ture held by the Ditchley Foundation,
which promotes international rela-
tions, on Saturday.
“It is also the case that Westminster
and Whitehall can become a looking-
glass world. Government departments
recruit in their own image, are influ-
enced by the think tanks and lobbyists
who breathe the same London air...
“We can, literally, reduce the distance
between government and people by re-
locating government decision-making
centres to different parts of our United
Kingdom.
“Why shouldn’t some of the policy-
makers intimately involved in reshap-
ing our approach to energy and the de-
carbonisation of our economy be in
Teesside, Humberside and Aberdeen?
Shouldn’t those thinking about this sec-
tor be part of the communities whose
jobs depend on getting these decisionsAs a career diplomat, David Frost
developed a reputation for discretion
and kept a relatively low profile.
Under Boris Johnson’s premiership,
he has risen to become one of the most
powerful men in the country in the
space of less than six months.
Mr Frost, a special adviser, now holds
the roles of both Britain’s chief negotia-
tor with the EU and national security
adviser, exerting huge influence across
the whole of government.
By giving Mr Frost a dual role, the
government is sending Brussels a clear
signal that it wants negotiations over
with as soon as possible.
In Michel Barnier the European
Union has a single figure devoted to ne-
gotiations, but Mr Frost’s time and
energy will of necessity be divided. Mr
Johnson has said repeatedly that he
does not want negotiations on Britain’s
future relationship to drag on.
Mr Frost said last night that his “top
single priority” would remain negotia-
tions with the EU until they were con-
cluded but his appointment appears to
be a statement of intent.
His position as national security ad-
viser is also likely to prove contentious.
Mr Frost is the first political appoint-News
Civil servants are too
condescending over
Brexit, insists Gove
Francis Elliott right?” He admitted that he shared a
tendency to measure success by the
“sound of applause in the [Westmin-
ster] village, not the weight we lift from
others’ shoulders”.
Although he lavished praise on offi-
cials’ sense of duty, Mr Gove was tart
about the quality of their “formulaic,
over-long, jargon-heavy and back-cov-
ering” submissions to ministers.
He said that he wanted civil service
training to drop the “latest coaching
theology” in favour of “basic writing,
meeting chairing and time manage-
ment skills”. Mr Gove also identified
the “whirligig” of transfers that favour
general over specialist skills as a prob-
lem, saying that he wanted officials to
be “as knowledgeable in their areas asconsultant surgeons... are in theirs”.
He was candid about his own failures,
describing his decision to scrap a
school-building programme as a “fias-
co”, but said that each paved the way for
an improvement in policy.
He concluded: “Faith in conventional
political parties, their leadership and
their allies in business has been broken.
“Failures of policy and judgment
have put previously existing elites in
the dock. Their misjudgments, in the
eyes of many, have been compounded
by cultural condescension.”
6 Britain will make concessions on EU
demands for strong enforcement of a
future trade, fishing and security agree-
ment, including retaliatory tariffs. It
follows concessions by the EU, made in
private talks, that remove any role for
the European Court of Justice in polic-
ing “level playing field” trade rules.
David Frost, Britain’s chief negotiator,
is in Brussels today for intensified talks.STEFAN ROUSSEAU/GETTY IMAGESMichael Gove said
favouring general
over specialist
skills was a failure
among officialsFrost’s dual role sends signal to EU
Steven Swinford Deputy Political Editor ment in the role — his four predeces-
sors were all civil servants with exten-
sive national security experience.
While Mr Frost can draw on nearly
30 years of experience as a diplomat,
including as Britain’s ambassador to
Denmark, he appears to have little ex-
perience in intelligence and security.
What he does have, however, is the
wholesale backing of the prime minis-ter and Dominic Cummings, his most
senior adviser.
On accepting the role, Mr Frost made
clear that he will be taking a reforming
role as national security adviser. He
said he wanted to “strengthen and re-
focus our international policy appara-
tus” and he will be charged with imple-
menting the integrated security and de-
fence review.
The review will set out the strategy
for Britain’s approach to international
relations for decades to come, combin-
ing foreign policy with security and de-fence. There will be a significant expan-
sion in the role of the National Security
Council, which will hold increasing
sway over foreign policy. It will be
working with the Foreign, Common-
wealth and Development Office when
it is established later this year.
Mr Frost said: “My aim is to support
the prime minister in setting a new stra-
tegic vision for Britain’s place in the
world as an independent country after
the end of the EU transition period.”
Mr Frost was born in Derby in 1965
and studied at Nottingham High
School and Oxford University, where
he gained a first-class degree in French
and history.
In 1987 he joined the Foreign Office,
and was posted to Brussels in 1993 to
oversee economic and financial affairs
at Britain’s EU mission. He became a
committed Brexiteer after growing
disillusioned with the European
project, believing that Britain would be
better off setting its own rules.
He left the civil service in 2013 to be-
come chief executive of the Scotch
Whisky Association. When Mr John-
son became foreign secretary he ap-
pointed Mr Frost as one of his special
advisers. He remained there until Mr
Johnson quit over Theresa May’s Brexit
strategy in 2018.David Frost grew
disillusioned with
the EU after being
posted to BrusselsTwo years ago, when my predecessor fell ill, your
predecessor asked me to step in as Cabinet Secretary,
and you asked me to continue to support you through
Brexit and the Election period. It was obviously right to
stay on for the acute phase of the Covid-19 crisis. As
you are setting out this week, the Government’s focus
is now shifting to domestic and global recovery and
renewal.I am fortunate to have served in some of the most
challenging and rewarding jobs in national and
international public service under seven prime
ministers and in extraordinary times. I am grateful for
your confidence and friendship as both Foreign
Secretary and Prime Minister. I wish you well and, of
course, remain at your disposal in the years ahead. It
has been a privilege to serve.people you’re working for are
publicly briefing against you? He
had fought so many battles and
there comes a point when you
can’t keep on going any more.
“It’s such a difficult job anyway
but to do it with your character
being dismantled by the press with
no right to reply made it
untenable.”
Another source said the nature
and timing of Sir Mark’s departure
had been very closely guarded,
with even Mr Johnson’s chief
strategic adviser Sir Eddie Lister,
who had backed Sir Mark, kept in
the dark until a few days ago.
But as ever with the civil service
the official exchange of letters
made it look like the most natural
thing in the world. Sir Mark has
been offered the customary life
peerage and will also lead a new
G7 panel on Global Economic
Security.
Mr Johnson meanwhile faces the
task of appointing a successor with
whom he will need to build a much
better relationship if he is to fulfil
his ambitious domestic reform
agenda.
Among the internal candidates
Sir Chris Wormald might once
have been seen as the frontrunner
having been at the helm of two
large delivery departments at
health and education. But he has
been blamed by Downing Street
for the failures of Public Health
England during the Covid crisis
and is now thought of as an
unlikely candidate.
More likely options among the
current cadre of permanent
secretaries include Sarah Healey
at culture and Antonia Romeo at
trade. Neither has been in their
position for long and they have
never run a major department but
they are seen as competent. Such
an appointment would also help
address concerns about gender
imbalance. Sir Stephen Lovegrove,
permanent secretary at the MoD,
would also be in contention.
But it is possible that Mr
Johnson will look outside of
Whitehall. While under the terms
set down by the civil service
commission he has to appoint
either a serving or past permanent
secretary the prime minister could
turn to a figure such as Dame
Sharon White, chairman of John
Lewis.
Dame Sharon was a former
second permanent secretary at the
Treasury before leaving to run the
media regulator Ofcom and then
moving into the private sector.Johnson to No 10 as prime minister. In his resignation letter, Sir Mark said he was grateful for Mr Johnson’s “confidence”