The civil service relies on experts with inside knowledge,but too many staff with the right skills are leaving to earn more money in the private sectorJohn Kingman’s decision to quit the Treasury, having been passed over for the top job, and is fair – but it’s a great loss to public service. Whether it is the banks,Port Talbot or energy supply, governments urgently need capacity to deal with markets and global companies, or their armies of lawyers and accountants. The state relies on people with inside knowledge,like Kingman, who had also worked at the Financial Times and BP. They also rely on people like Edward Troup, or the HMRC chief and former partner at law firm Simmons & Simmons whose clients included the Panama-registered fund created by David Cameron’s father. After all,a chequered past shouldn’t save a veto on public service.
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Source: theguardian.com