Former Treasury minister savages Tom Scholar

There was much anger and sadness in Whitehall last week at the sacking of the Treasury’s top civil servant Sir Tom Scholar by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on his first day in office. But one person who won’t be shedding tears for the departing Permanent Secretary is Lord Agnew, who served as a minister in Scholar’s department between 2020 to 2022.

Agnew’s resignation from government in January was one of the more sensational and principled that Westminster has seen in recent years. Arriving at the despatch box to answer an Urgent Question on fraud in the UK’s coronavirus business loan scheme, Agnew said he was unable to defend his department’s record and bemoaned how ‘arrogance, indolence and ignorance freezes the government machine.’ He then quit his Treasury job on the spot, to applause from across the House.