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.

Push has now come to shove and civil servants are standing up and being counted. They deserve our praise for speaking out, whilst this government fails to see the wood for the trees or in this case the debacle of the Rwanda strategy.

Judith A. Daniels

Norfolk

Johnson’s brand has withered

I disagree with John Rentoul’s most recent column. As far as I’m concerned Rishi Sunak has nothing to fear from acting integrally with the Partygate inquiry.

The fact that Rishi Sunak has got on with governing the country whilst steering clear of Boris Johnson and his boffins is exactly why Labour’s lead has fallen to single digits after an ample advantage under Johnson’s choice of premier, Liz Truss.

Rishi Sunak should never be afraid of Boris Johnson and should do exactly what the Cabinet Office requests.

Who knows, it might even relieve him of one or two more failing Boris boffins who are still rotting to political oblivion in some poor government department.

The fact of the matter is that the Boris Johnson brand has died a breathlessness death caused by endless lies and systematic deception.

Geoffrey Brooking

Hampshire

Nice work if you can get it

Whilst the MP Johnson is now a Commons backbencher, the green leather benches are infrequently buffed by his ample old Etonian backside. It is now more used to parking itself on vacation in warmer climates.

He has a seat in the commons and yet is allowed to occupy a distant location of choice whilst paid from the public purse, to do absolutely nothing. If reports are to be believed Johnson spends more time on holiday and moonlighting lecture tours than he spends doing the job the country pays him for.

Presumably, all other members of the house are entitled to do the same. Is it time that MPs were obliged to book their holidays only when parliament is in recess? What irrational right allows them to bunk off with pay and pensions without the necessity of agreed permission?

It would appear that Kwasi Kwarteng, Liz Truss, Dominic Raab, Priti Patel, and Chris Skidmore, whose jointly published work  "Britannia Unchained" offered the opinion that "the British are among the worst idlers in the world”, were right.

At least rules oblige the rest of us British to actually turn up to work to get paid, although in fairness the country would be in a much healthier state if Kwarteng and Truss had not.

David Nelmes

Newport

Tories are unfashionably late again

Rishi Sunak has apparently been shocked by the fact that young people are gaining access to vapes. Whether they are being given to them to ensure they become addicted to this source of nicotine rather than smoking cigarettes or are buying them on the black market. Why, I ask, is the government always unable to predict the inevitable and legislate ahead?

Being late to the party seems to be a feature of the “clever” people who put themselves forward and rise to positions of power. We’ve been here so many times. The use of mobile phones whilst driving is an obvious example. And, the late realisation that Covid-19 was about to invade in 2020 is another example that cost us dearly.

Ian Reid

Kilnwick

Save me from Bremainers

David Nelmes et al continue relentlessly to rail against the democratic UK decision to exit the EU. We made an informed choice to leave with lies presented by both sides. However many bitter and resentful words get printed week after week I don’t see any appetite from any significant political faction to return to the bosom of bureaucracy.

The “Bremainer” romantic vision of our nation in harmony with our European friends is simply rose-tinted piffle. We point-blank refused to sign up for the Schengen free movement agreement and couldn’t allow ourselves to adopt the euro. We were never “in” Europe. We remained on the periphery and fiddled about with the concept occasionally shrieking demands for “special case” status when it suited.

Unless someone has something new to say about the decision a vociferous few seem unable to accept, can I ask that we stop this depressing campaign? It is utterly futile to keep banging the same pointless clapped-out drum week after week. Let’s try focusing on the here and now and accept our dalliance with the EU was nothing more than a failed experiment.

Steve Mackinder

Denver