There is a paradox at the heart of Boris Johnson’s political project, I say in the magazine this week. He is frank, brutal even, about the failings of government but he is pinning his hopes on government so solve this country’s economic problems. This means that his future is dependent on his ability to make government work better.
The departure of Sir Mark Sedwill as cabinet secretary and national security adviser presages Johnson’s effort to change Whitehall. There will be limits to this revolution: Sedwill’s replacement will be a current or former permanent secretary; the first civil service commissioner Ian Watmore insisted on that. But this bar on bringing in an outsider matters less, because the role of the cabinet secretary is about to change significantly. In the new disposition, the cabinet secretary’s most important role will be as head of the civil service.
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