It’s nothing to do with pensions or pay freezes we just think our colleagues are incompetent, appointed for their political affiliations not their ability and our ministers are blinkered and lacking in integrity or back bone. Well they didn’t use these exact words but that’s what the 14,000 civil servant, including 500 senior managers, who took part in the biggest ever survey of civil servants meant. They were clearly being rude about some of their colleagues and don’t think much to their political bosses.
The most critical staff were those working in the Home Office, not surprising really considering last year’s passport checks fiasco which saw the Home Secretary Theresa May blame everything on her head of the Boarder Force Brodie Clark. He left claiming unfair dismissal and if you’re wondering why you haven’t heard anything more, well that’s because he settled in March for a £100,000 pay out!
Queues at Heathrow airport have continued to undermine the credibility of the service and ministers have continued to maintain it has nothing to do with staffing cut backs.
Teresa May has continued to make high profile blunders and bring the Home Office into disrepute. Unless of course you believe in the conspiracy theory that her own staff deliberately told her the wrong info just to get their own back.
The police don’t like her either. They booed her at their national conference. In fact she may be even more unpopular than her fellow cabinet minister at the DH who is accused of destroying the NHS by doctors and nurses and just about every other medical professional.
Thing aren’t much better over in Education as the new government appointed head of Ofsted has upset the whole teaching profession by suggesting dawn inspection raids on school suspected of underperforming and claiming he can’t be doing much wrong if morale amongst teachers is going through the floor.
Local Government is going through a bad time what with savage budget cuts so it hardly surprising that no one was upset when the local government minister received a bloody nose from the electorate for trying to force through his big idea of directly elected Mayors.
In the context that the survey was carried out perhaps it not surprising that the staff were rather uncivil for civil servants.
Blair McPherson author of UnLeaning management and People management in a harsh financial climate both published by Russell House. Follow Blair on Twitter @blairmcpherson1
