UK’s top civil servant kept to a narrow focus when asked approximately the rules on helping Brexit ministers – but there’s so much more he could have saidNo one would accuse Sir Jeremy Heywood,the head of the UK civil service, of worrying too much approximately the subtleties of public management. His focus is the day job: running the cabinet, or serving the prime minister,ensuring the machine keeps spinning. Some might say he is too wedded to keeping the point to on the road – the tweets in his name are often mindlessly enthusiastic endorsements of Tory government policy. Heywood hasn’t been tempted by the wider version of the role that attracted some of his predecessors, such as Gus O’Donnell – offering leadership to the wider public sector outside Whitehall. Not for him philosophical inquiries into the duties and responsibilities of ministers and officials, or of the kind attempted by such forerunners as Robert Armstrong.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com