What did we learn about ministers’ relations with the civil service from top mandarin Sir Mark Sedwill?

Following the Priti Patel row, Britain’s most senior civil servant faced questions yesterday from MPs, writes John Rentoul

Boris Johnson shakes hands with Sir Mark Sedwill (PA)

Sir Mark Sedwill, who as well as being cabinet secretary is head of the home civil service, gave evidence to a select committee of MPs yesterday. It was a classically smooth and uninformative performance.

Naturally he was asked about the falling out between Priti Patel, the home secretary, and Sir Philip Rutnam, her former top civil servant. “There is a limit to what I can say,” said Sir Mark. Sir Philip has threatened to sue the government for constructive dismissal, but he has not started proceedings yet, Sir Mark told the committee.

It is unprecedented for a permanent secretary to resign in this way, saying he had been forced out by his minister and accusing her of lying, but Sir Mark was unflapped. He confirmed that he was indeed the “line manager” for all permanent secretaries, and that he had been torn, therefore, between his responsibility for Sir Philip and his loyalty to the prime minister, at whose right hand he sits in cabinet meetings.

But he did not see the need for “further regulations” governing the relationship between senior civil servants and their cabinet ministers. In most cases, the status quo works, he argued.

He was so laid back, in Yes, Minister style, that he even quoted from Yes, Minister. He said it was the job of the civil service to “make sure the chips stay up”. This was a reference to when Jim Hacker, the fictional minister, asked his private secretary where his loyalty would lie when the chips were down. Sir Bernard Woolley (played by Derek Fowlds, who died in January) replied: “Minister, it’s my job to see the chips stay up.”

Sir Mark did it by defensively parrying any awkward questions from MPs on the committee. Why was the government appointing a human resources adviser for special advisers – the political appointees who act as temporary civil servants? The government is trying to provide more professional HR support for them, Sir Mark said.

What was happening to the review of special advisers’ employment terms – a controversial subject because of Dominic Cummings, the most special of special advisers, throwing his weight around? It is not a “capital R review”, Sir Mark deflected.

On the subject of friction between ministers, civil servants and special advisers, it was the responsibility of all sides to “make it work”, he said. Despite the headlines about the conduct of Priti Patel and Dominic Cummings, it seems clear from Sir Mark’s evidence yesterday that the rules are not going to change.