James Kirkup James Kirkup

Who will defend the civil service from the Revolutionary Conservative Party?

It’s said that when Iain Dale, overseeing last night’s Conservative hustings in Manchester, announced the news that Oliver Robbins, the senior civil servant in Theresa May’s Brexit team, was leaving his post and the Civil Service, many of the Tory audience cheered.

By doing so, they underlined several of the most striking, and troubling, elements of Britain’s Brexit drama.

First, the cowardice of politicians who seek to blame the civil service for failing to deliver impossible goals and for pointing out that some things are impossible. Olly Robbins has been traduced, and cannot – yet – even answer those who traduce him. He deserves better, not least from the Prime Minister whose strategy he attempted to implement.

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