The battle with the Blob

Most prime ministers fall out with the civil service at some point. David Cameron attacked the ‘enemies of enterprise’; Tony Blair spoke of ‘the scars on my back’ from battling the public sector. But the premiership of Boris Johnson brought relations to a new low, with prorogation and partygate fuelling paranoia on both sides. Under Rishi Sunak, tensions have been reignited by Dominic Raab’s resignation and the Cabinet Office’s attempt to hand over Johnson’s pandemic diaries to the Covid inquiry.

For some Conservatives, the mandarins involved in these dramas are the embodiment of ‘the Blob’. The etymology of this term shows how Tory criticisms of the civil service have changed throughout their time in office. Originally ‘the Blob’ was deployed by Michael Gove’s allies to ridicule unions, teachers and councils unwilling to accept parent-driven change. The term now refers to a much more partisan and activist group of bureaucrats, seeking to undermine the government of the day.

Such claims are nothing new. Denis Healey was forced to go to the IMF for a bailout in the 1970s after Treasury civil servants gave an exaggerated view of what his policies would do to the public finances. I understand that last year it was Simon Case, the head of the civil service, who wrote Liz Truss a memo telling her to abandon her economic agenda on the grounds that it was causing market chaos. From that moment, her premiership was doomed. It was a civil servant, not a cabinet delegation or opposition leader, who sounded the death knell for Trussonomics.

It’s easy to see why civil servants might think that they decide the fate of ministers. A bullying complaint here, a request for ministerial direction there: some Tories fear the tail is now adept at wagging the dog.