Ah, Jacob Rees-Mogg. The Old Etonian sometimes appears to have been designed by top lab scientists at CCHQ to perfectly antagonise the Sir Humphreys of SW1. Since his appointment as the Minister for Government Efficiency in February, every announcement by the Somerset MP seems calculated to enrage the civil service trade unions, keen to retain Covid-era hybrid working practices. For the Moggstar has been on a one-man war around Whitehall, rampaging around the Cabinet Office, decrying those mandarins who stubbornly refuse to abandon working from home.
As part of this crusade to get back to the offices, Rees-Mogg last month toured his department and left calling cards on the empty desks of absent civil servants. 'Sorry you were out when I visited,' they said 'I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.