The greatest political, as opposed to strategic, threat to the
coalition from the Libya evacuation crisis was that it would give the government a reputation for incompetence. As I say in the Mail on Sunday, Labour are looking to pin the
incompetence charge to the coalition at every possible opportunity. The Miliband team knows that if the coalition comes to be seen as incompetent, then it is done for.
Once a government comes to be seen as incompetent, then it is almost impossible for it to gain support for any of its proposals as even those who agree with the ideas don’t trust the government to implement them. Equally, any good news is seen to be fortuitous and not a consequence of the policies that the government has pursued.
The successful rescue of British nationals stranded in the desert and the evacuations out today means that the government has avoided this fate. But if the Foreign Office, one of the jewels in the civil service crown, can put the government in such jeopardy, then Cameron and co need to think about what could happen across the rest of Whitehall as the coalition’s reform and cuts agenda are implemented.
If the coalition is to minimise the risk of being seen as incompetent, then it needs to take a much closer grip on the civil service. The civil service is no longer the Rolls Royce government machine of legend. It is in need of radical reform.
One thing Cameron should do immediately is adopt the New Zealand model where permanent secretaries’ jobs are dependent on delivering the department’s agreed agenda. This would inject some much needed civil service accountability into the system.
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