Civil servants recognise a dire and unworkable plan when they see one

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Push has now come to shove and civil servants are standing up, they deserve our praise for speaking out (PA)

I read Lizzie Dearden’s column with interest and it is to be welcomed that these men and women recognise a dire and unworkable plan when they see one. The civil service has come in for some flak in recent years and Home Office staff in particular.

I personally couldn’t work in such a department, when there have been recent home secretaries, and of course, the present incumbent, who just wants the meretricious headlines of “being tough on immigration” irrespective of international law and the inherent human rights of desperate people.

But the present staff appears to have had a damascene ethical moment and that is very much welcomed. I’m sure it comes as a result of a work environment where it is apparently acceptable to refer to staff as the “blob”, an environment so demeaning and counterproductive that civil servants must have suffered a cataclysmic fall in their job satisfaction and well-being before turning on their leader.