The Scottish parliament’s decision to ban its staff wearing campaigning lanyards may seem like a small step. But could it set a precedent for rolling back a trend for tolerating staff activism that has spread throughout the civil service in recent years?
In an email to staff, the move was justified ‘to minimise the risk of perceived bias and avoid any perception that wearing such items may be influencing our own decision-making.’ But the problem of staff activism goes further than this.
The real change came since George Floyd and the rise of trans ideology
I have recently left the civil service as a director after a 30-year career in four departments. Traditionally, civil servants understood their role as carrying out ministers’ policies quietly and efficiently, whether they agreed with them or not. If they were required to reverse policies they had put years into implementing, so be it: ministers have a political mandate and we do not.
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