What Whitehall expects

The Sunday Times Magazine carried a useful feature by Dominic Lawson yesterday on the mood in the Civil Service ahead of a posible change of Government*. I was taken by this quote from Jonathan Baume, the head of the FDA, the union for members of the Senior Civil Service:

“A number of senior civil servants who had observed Gordon Brown at close quarters warned that he would not be a success as Prime Minister. Others said that he would be a changed man, and that it would work out well. That has turned to dust.”

Also worth noting Lord Butler’s view on how the Tories might get on with the SCS:

“I think they have a different attitude [to the civil service]: perhaps they have a better understanding of the master-servant relationship! I suspect that they will let the civil servants have their say, without taking [disagreement] as a personal criticism.”

*Apologies, I can’t find it online to link to Sorted, with many thanks to Andy Savage.