Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The contradictory Tory home working jibes

(Getty)

Why have ministers become so obsessed with where people are doing their work? The war on working from home has become one of the key themes of this Conservative party conference. Senior figures and backbenchers alike have launched attacks on those who are continuing to work remotely rather than returning to the traditional office set-up. At the start of the conference, former minister Jake Berry joked that ‘We have to end the Civil Service “woke-ing” from home — sorry, I mean working from home — but, let’s be honest, it often is “woke-ing”.’ This morning, Boris Johnson warned younger people that their colleagues would ‘gossip’ about them and they would miss out on opportunities if they stayed away from the workplace. Naturally party chair Oliver Dowden had a go this afternoon, telling civil servants to ‘get off their Pelotons and back to their desks’.

That last comment was particularly barbed, given Dowden has just left the Culture, Media and Sport department, where the permanent secretary Sarah Healey recently came under attack for telling a conference that working from home gave her a chance to hop on her cycling machine.

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