The Spectator

The Tories cannot afford a war with the civil service

Thirteen years ago, when John Reid became Home Secretary, he declared the ministry he presided over ‘not fit for purpose’. He was talking about border control but he might well have been referring to the department in general. When Theresa May became PM, things at the Home Office went from bad to worse. Her paranoid style as PM, developed as a survival mechanism when she was Home Secretary, was disastrous.

The Windrush debacle, the most shameful example of government dysfunction in recent times, was a sign that change was long overdue. And yet this chaotic department, riven with internal feuds and a lack of accountability, now has a gargantuan task ahead of it. Within a matter of months it must produce a post-Brexit immigration system and sort out the EU settlement scheme — knowing that, as with Windrush, failure will have human consequences.

It is ­impossible to reform any government department so it runs as efficiently as a private company

Boris Johnson is committed to a plan that would test the most efficient of organisations. The Home Office has nine months to get this country ready for the most profound changes to its borders in the postwar era. In these circumstances, it was inevitable that tensions would flare, and it is no real surprise that Priti Patel and Sir Philip Rutnam, her former chief civil servant, have fallen out so spectacularly.

Sir Philip saw no irony in making an organised media appearance to complain about an ‘orchestrated briefing campaign’ against him. But as the news demonstrates on a daily basis, there is spin on both sides. Perhaps most telling was Westminster’s assumption that this would all be sorted out behind closed doors because both sides had too much to lose if it were not. Boris Johnson was aware that he hadn’t sent the most competent minister to the department (Patel was chosen for her decisive style, to assure voters that their concerns are being taken seriously).

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