Patrick Diamond discusses Dominic Cummings’s stated intent of imposing disruptive reforms on the civil service, and explains why his rhetoric may prove to be particularly counterproductive in a Conservative Government

Diamond, Patrick

English

LSE Research Online

Dominic	Cummings’s	thinking	on	the	civil	service	is	apotent	challenge	to	the	Whitehall	system	–	and	islikely	to	be	opposedPatrick	Diamond	discusses	Dominic	Cummings’s	stated	intent	of	imposing	disruptive	reforms	on	the	civil	service,and	explains	why	his	rhetoric	may	prove	to	be	particularly	counterproductive	in	a	Conservative	government.Picture:	Howard	Lake/(CC	BY-SA	2.0)	licenceIf	President	Trump	governs	by	tweet,	key	players	in	the	newly	elected	Johnson	Administration	are	practicingstatecraft	via	the	blogosphere.	As	Chief	Adviser	in	10	Downing	Street,	Dominic	Cummings’s	stated	intent	ofimposing	disruptive	reforms	on	the	civil	service	is	being	taken	seriously	in	the	corridors	of	power.	The	Whitehallmachinery	has	already	been	reshaped	by	successive	Conservative	administrations.	In	the	Cameron	governmentafter	2010,	Francis	Maude	devised	initiatives	to	weaken	the	civil	service	monopoly	over	policy	advice,	whileexposing	more	of	the	public	sector	to	outsourcing	and	competition.	Maude,	along	with	Michael	Gove	(who	onceemployed	Cummings),	was	one	of	several	ministers	to	explicitly	attack	civil	service	incompetence.	They	believedthat	officials	were	obstacles	to	fundamental	reform	of	the	British	state.	Following	several	years	of	post-Brexitreferendum	hiatus,	the	war	on	Whitehall	is	being	resumed.At	the	core	of	Cummings’s	plan	is	the	ambition	to	challenge	fundamentally	the	‘governing	marriage’	between	civilservants	and	ministers	where	both	sides	worked	together	harmoniously	to	delineate	effective	public	policy.	Whatmade	the	marriage	so	compelling	was	that	civil	servants,	by	virtue	of	their	carefully	protected	independence	andneutrality,	were	willing	to	‘speak	truth	to	power’.	Officials	were	prepared	to	tell	ministers	when	they	believed	acourse	of	action	was	wrong,	or	that	a	favoured	policy	was	misguided.	According	to	Lord	Butler,	there	was,	‘a	feelingof	solidarity	and	companionship	between	ministers	and	civil	servants’.By	and	large,	civil	servants	accepted	that	they	must	help	the	elected	government	of	the	day	to	achieve	its	chosenobjectives,	as	stipulated	in	the	manifesto.	Of	course,	there	is	a	danger	of	viewing	the	past	through	rose-tintedspectacles.	Relationships	between	officials	and	their	political	masters	did	break	down,	as	Richard	Crossman’sdiaries	from	the	Wilson	governments	in	the	1960s	indicate.	Yet	by	and	large,	the	Whitehall	model	persistedsurviving	changes	of	government	over	the	last	forty	years.	Britain	is	regarded	as	having	one	of	the	most	efficientand	stable	government	bureaucracies	in	the	world.Democratic Audit: Dominic Cummings’s thinking on the civil service is a potent challenge to the Whitehall system – and is likely to be opposed Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2020-01-08Permalink: https://www.democraticaudit.com/2020/01/08/dominic-cummingss-thinking-on-the-civil-service-is-a-potent-challenge-to-the-whitehall-system-and-is-likely-to-be-opposed/Blog homepage: https://www.democraticaudit.com/Cummings’s	rhetoric	thus	signals	a	potentially	seismic	shift.	His	aim	is	to	install	a	‘them	and	us’	model	whereofficials	merely	carry	out	the	wishes	of	ministers,	focusing	on	the	delivery	and	implementation	of	policy.	The	civilservice	is	deemed	to	be	a	failing	institution	that	reinforces	a	sterile	and	insipid	liberal	ideology	in	British	politics	andpolicy-making.	The	policy-making	process	will	be	driven	by	ministers	in	conjunction	with	handpicked	politicaladvisers	and	externally	recruited	experts	who	are	competent	in	data	analytics,	quantitative	economics,	and	thephysical	sciences,	particularly	mathematics.	Officials’	substantive	function	will	be	to	say	‘yes,	Minister’.	Cummings’sthinking	is	a	potent	challenge	to	the	traditional	Whitehall	system.	Two	points	are	striking,	however.	Firstly,	little	ofwhat	he	is	proposing	is	actually	very	new.	Secondly,	it	will	be	extremely	difficult	to	make	it	happen,	regardless	of	thepower	and	patronage	Cummings	presently	enjoys	at	the	heart	of	Downing	Street.On	the	first	point,	governments	have	long	expressed	their	dissatisfaction	with	the	Whitehall	machine.	The	critique	ofthe	civil	service	establishment	was	set	out	most	eloquently	in	the	1968	Fulton	report	commissioned	by	HaroldWilson’s	administration.	Officials	were	‘generalists’	trained	in	arts	and	humanities	subjects	at	Britain’s	ancientuniversities.	They	lacked	specialist	knowledge	and	technical	expertise.	Civil	servants	were	poor	managers.	Theypresided	over	a	culture	of	mediocrity	which	perpetuated	Britain’s	relative	economic	decline.	Fulton’srecommendations	included	bringing	more	trained	scientists	into	Whitehall,	while	training	mandarins	in	managementeffectiveness.	Sound	familiar?	The	attacks	on	the	civil	service	then	continued	into	the	1980s	and	1990s.	MargaretThatcher	threatened	to	‘deprivilege	Whitehall’	while	her	ideological	soulmate,	Ronald	Reagan,	spoke	of	‘drainingthe	swamp’	in	Washington.	Under	Blair’s	New	Labour	governments,	more	political	advisers	were	brought	ontodepartments,	while	there	was	an	air	of	mistrust	towards	permanent	officials.	Yet	for	all	that,	the	Whitehall	modelsurvived.This	historical	perspective	reinforces	the	point	that	even	for	an	adviser	as	prominent	as	Cummings,	enacting	reformwill	be	arduous	to	say	the	least.	The	Cummings’s	plan	is	being	orchestrated	from	the	centre	in	Number	10.	It	will	bemuch	harder	to	effect	change	in	departments	where	most	policy-making	and	delivery	in	central	government	takesplace.	Departments	in	the	British	system	of	government	are	powerful,	autonomous	entities,	territories	presided	overby	secretaries	of	state	who	are	accountable	to	Parliament	for	everything	that	takes	place	in	their	name.Departments	are	expert	in	resisting	the	reach	of	the	centre,	as	even	powerful	prime	ministers	from	MargaretThatcher	to	Tony	Blair	will	testify.	Cummings	may	simply	find	that	his	ideas	are	ignored	or	side-lined,	particularly	ifthe	new	Prime	Minister	is	distracted	by	more	pressing	issues.It	is	also	the	case	that	opposition	to	fundamental	change	may	come	from	ministers	themselves,	as	much	as	the	civilservice.	Away	from	the	highly	politicised	centre	in	Number	10,	ministers	generally	forge	close	bonds	with	theirofficials,	as	countless	academic	studies	have	demonstrated	including	my	recent	book,	The	End	of	Whitehall?.	Civilservants	fulfil	all	sorts	of	functions:	they	are	skilled	policy	advisers,	problem-solvers,	Machiavellian	fixers,	speechwriters,	as	well	as	loyal	aides.	In	a	highly	febrile	political	environment,	these	are	the	skills	that	ministers	generallyvalue	and	appreciate,	more	important	day-to-day	even	than	technical	expertise.Cummings’s	rhetoric	about	disruptive	change	may	prove	to	be	particularly	counterproductive	in	a	Conservativegovernment.	Just	as	there	are	radical	reformers	who	are	enthused	by	the	project	of	remaking	the	UK	state,	thereare	institutional	conservatives	who	believe	in	the	importance	of	tradition	and	the	preservation	of	the	existinginstitutions.	Ministers	in	the	latter	category	may	react	against	proposed	changes	that	weaken	the	Northcote-Trevelyan	principles	of	merit-based	promotion	and	political	impartiality.	Within	24	hours	of	Cummings’s	blog	beingpublished,	a	Cabinet	minister	told	The	Times:	‘One	of	the	big	problems	with	[Cummings’s]	pull	the	pin	out	of	thegrenade,	drop	it	in	the	bunker,	and	see	what	happens	approach	is	that	it	is	so	destabilising…we	take	several	stepsbackwards	before	we’ve	even	started’.Another	factor	with	which	Cummings	must	wrestle	is	the	direct	opposition	of	civil	servants	themselves.	Officials	whoperceive	themselves	to	be	under	attack	are	unlikely	to	take	it	lying	down.	Already	a	phalanx	of	former	permanentsecretaries	have	been	lining	up	to	denounce	him	in	national	newspapers.	And	as	Dennis	Grube	has	shown	in	hisrecent	book,	Megaphone	Bureaucracy,	civil	servants	are	becoming	more	adept	at	projecting	their	views	in	thepublic	domain.	Recent	surveys	indicate	that	despite	Brexit,	the	civil	service	in	Britain	is	comparatively	trusted	bycitizens.	Cummings	may	have	little	respect	for	the	guile	of	officials,	but	the	Whitehall	machine	could	yet	prove	aformidable	opponent.This	article	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	not	the	position	of	Democratic	Audit.	It	was	first	published	on	LSE’s	BritishPolitics	and	Policy	blog.Democratic Audit: Dominic Cummings’s thinking on the civil service is a potent challenge to the Whitehall system – and is likely to be opposed Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2020-01-08Permalink: https://www.democraticaudit.com/2020/01/08/dominic-cummingss-thinking-on-the-civil-service-is-a-potent-challenge-to-the-whitehall-system-and-is-likely-to-be-opposed/Blog homepage: https://www.democraticaudit.com/About	the	authorPatrick	Diamond	is	Associate	Professor	of	Public	Policy	at	Queen	Mary,	University	ofLondon,	and	a	former	special	adviser	in	10	Downing	Street.	He	is	the	author	of	The	End	ofWhitehall?	published	by	Palgrave	MacMillan.Similar	PostsReforming	Whitehall:	bluff,	bluster,	brilliance	and	brainsGoverning	as	a	permanent	form	of	campaigning:	why	the	civil	service	is	in	mortal	dangerAudit	2017:	How	representative	and	effective	are	the	UK	civil	service	and	the	wider	public	servicesmanagement	system?The	requirement	for	civil	servants	to	“promote”	government	policy	has	inevitably	led	to	the	perception	ofpartisanshipCivil	servants	are	taking	on	an	increasingly	public	role,	allowing	for	perceptions	of	partisanship	to	emergeDemocratic Audit: Dominic Cummings’s thinking on the civil service is a potent challenge to the Whitehall system – and is likely to be opposed Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2020-01-08Permalink: https://www.democraticaudit.com/2020/01/08/dominic-cummingss-thinking-on-the-civil-service-is-a-potent-challenge-to-the-whitehall-system-and-is-likely-to-be-opposed/Blog homepage: https://www.democraticaudit.com/

Dominic Cummings’s thinking on the civil service is a potent challenge to the Whitehall system – and is likely to be opposed

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Dominic Cummings’s thinking on the civil service is a potent challenge to the Whitehall system – and is likely to be opposed

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