Has Liz Truss fallen victim to ‘civil service reform syndrome’?

The Tory hopeful is following a well-worn path to attacking Whitehall bureacracy, says Kate Devlin

Civil service reform – three words that provoke fear and exasperation across Whitehall and beyond.

As the Institute for Government points out, ministers have been concerned with reform almost since the 1854 report by Sir Charles Trevelyan and Sir Stafford Northcote formed the basis of the civil service.

Fads and political bugbears have come and gone (previous generations of officials are unlikely to have found notes at their desks asking why they are working from home, such as those recently dished out by Jacob Rees-Mogg, for instance).