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Theresa May and Boris Johnson let former Brexit chief negotiator Olly Robbins and other officials stay to dry after they became “targets of political attacks,” according to an investigation into Whitehall’s role in the drama. Brexit of the last four years.
The Institute of Government (IfG) independent think tank spent months talking confidentially with Whitehall sources, including officials, ministers and special advisers, to shed light on the behind-the-scenes experience of some of those involved in one of the most recent chapters. controversial. in British political history.
Among the highlights of the study was when Johnson put public officials in an “immensely difficult position” last October, when he threatened to leave the EU without a deal that violated the Benn Act. “Under civil service code 33, public officials cannot help ministers break the law,” says their report, The Civil Service after Brexit.
On a more prosaic level, it also reveals the difficult decision-making and burnout that officials suffered in the lead-up to the first Brexit deadline of March 29 last year.
Informs public officials that a single printout of a complex and lengthy no-fee schedule is being “huddled” due to leakage anxiety, staff having to go to dark rooms to access documents on secure computers, and How a generous offer of “Firewall Vacation” after the second no-deal deadline of April 12, 2019 led many to quit their jobs unable to face a return to the chaos of Brexit.
But the study also found that the task of delivering Brexit “exposes weaknesses in the civil service,” as both ministers and officials are not candid about the “serious political and economic consequences that no deal could have in Northern Ireland.”
Maddy Thimont Jack, Principal Investigator at the Government Institute, said: “Brexit demonstrated the best of civil service. He managed to undo a 47-year relationship with the EU in less than three years, working under immense pressure and with extremely tight deadlines. But the task is not yet complete and the tensions that Brexit exposed, particularly between ministers and officials, have not necessarily disappeared. ”
Those who spoke to the group of experts strongly criticized May’s relationship with the civil service.
She offered no “significant protection” to Robbins after he was openly attacked by hardline Brexiters, accused of “working independently” and selling a pro-EU line in Brussels.
“The Prime Minister was notably silent:she did not offer support to her key adviser, who was taking personal and professional attacks as a result of her political decisions, ”the report states.
Former HMRC chief Jon Thompson received two death threats after he said that the “maximum facilitation” border proposals in May would cost companies as much as £ 20 billion a year.
Rather than defend his position as the widely respected top public official at the HMRC, May let his spokesman dismiss Thompson’s analysis as “speculation.”
The report concludes that the near collapse of the May government and the lack of clarity left public officials trying to build consensus through “proven methods of ambiguous writing and ingenious writing,” somewhat familiar to fans of television comedy. Yes Minister.
Johnson also used the weapon of silence when public servants were attacked, the IfG found. In particular, he refused to defend the UK ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, when diplomatic emails leaked about the Donald Trump administration.
Johnson pioneered the Tory party leadership at the time.
The “excessive Brexit secrecy” was another complaint from within Whitehall with the “over-classification” of documents as “secrets” creating unnecessary problems for officials.
Officials had to rely on super-secure pink terminals, installed by the National Center for Cyber Security, rather than their own computers.
“The secret caused a lot of unnecessary stress in the lead up to March 29, 2019, and very few people had access to vital documents.The concerns were leaks, but throughout this period it was primarily the political teams in the departments, not the officials working on Brexit readiness or negotiations, who were responsible for the leak, ”the report says.
The major improvements were made under Michael Gove when he was named chief operations officer for exit (XO) and planning without agreement, the authors conclude. With a control panel involving 350 dropped milestones and secrecy levels, the new body is said to have moved quickly “more like a program management board … than a cabinet committee.”
Ultimately, the pace was unsustainable and its focus was limited: avoid the immediate chaos of the fall of the EU rather than the long-term consequence for the country.
But because of its flaws, it proved to be a model that was easily adjusted and used in the coronavirus response, mixing officials and ministers on an interdepartmental basis, the study found.
