More than 40 years after it was written there are still lines in Yes Minister that are painfully accurate about how Whitehall works. One of these is Jim Hacker’s comment that the British system of government has the engine of a lawnmower and the brakes of a Rolls Royce. Yet most new prime ministers regard civil service reform as a ‘third-term issue’. It is time-consuming and is very much not a vote winner.
Whitehall reform is rising up the agenda
But now Covid and the challenges it has thrown up has made it a priority. As I say in the Times today, it is now a matter of survival for this administration to sort out the machinery of government. Unless they do, they have no chance of clearing the backlogs that have built up during the past year and a bit.
For this reason, Whitehall reform is rising up the agenda. On Monday, the Commission for Smart Government will report.
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