Mandarins routinely take Fridays off and sometimes can’t spell ministers’ names. Why does this go on? 

It’s a fact that most ministers are most scared, not of their political rivals but of their civil servants. Ministers know that if they cross civil servants, all of their foibles may soon end up in print. It’s one reason why politicians so often repeat the mantra ‘Our civil service is the best in the world,’ so as to keep on their good side.

One man stands out: Francis Maude, Minister for the Civil Service, has spent most of his political life telling his party why it doesn’t work as a modern institution and now he’s taking on the civil service with equal frankness. This approach has not gone down well. Mandarins have pushed for Maude to be reshuffled, parodied his proposals and wheeled out the old guard to attack him. The latest step was Lord Butler, a former head of the civil service, taking to the airwaves to condemn Maude for not understanding leadership.

Much like the National Health Service, the civil service demands submission to the idea that it embodies all that is best about Britain. Those, like Maude, who refuse to play along with this are treated as heretics. As with the NHS, there are patches of excellence in the civil service and some brilliant people. But there is too much mediocrity, acceptance of second-rate service and glossing over of problems. Those who want to hold individual officials to account are treated as pariahs. Too often the civil service seems to aspire to the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages: power without responsibility.

Whitehall has also been infected by the worst of the New Labour public-service culture. Under Sir Gus O’Donnell, the last Cabinet Secretary, a fear of elitism developed that amounted to a rejection of excellence.