Bookmarks (20) clear filters

Exclusive: Cabinet Office briefing seen by Guardian warns that Brexit, Covid, flu, flooding and unrest could lead to chaosCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe government has privately admitted the UK faces an increased likelihood of “systemic economic crisis” as it completes its exit from the European Union in the middle of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.A confidential Cabinet Office briefing...

Exclusive: data specialist appointed after responding to call by Boris Johnson’s chief adviser for ‘weirdos and misfits’How civil servants’ concerns about racism led them to Cummings recruit’s tweetA data specialist recruited to the civil service following Dominic Cummings’ call for “weirdos and misfits” to work for the UK government was sacked recently after posting on social media that police should use live rounds against...

Report says racism is endemic in UK aid department’s HQ and network of offices abroadMany black, Asian and minority ethnic men working in the Department for International Development claim to have experienced prejudice at work, including racist jokes and doubts about their legality as UK citizens.The government’s aid department has also been severely criticised for signing off an anti-sexual harassment campaign that portrayed BAME...

Inquiry into Whitehall’s Brexit role says prime ministers failed to protect officialsTheresa May and Boris Johnson let the former chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins and other civil servants hang out to dry after they became “targets for political attacks”, an investigation into Whitehall’s role in the Brexit drama of the past four years has found.The independent thinktank the Institute for Government (IfG) spent months...

Secretive investigation condemned - but home secretary still to face Rutnam at employment tribunal Priti Patel is expected to be cleared this week of bullying senior civil servants in three separate government departments, Whitehall sources have confirmed.The home secretary had been accused of breaching the ministerial code by mistreating staff at the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department...

Sir Philip Rutnam takes action under whistleblowing laws, claiming constructive dismissal Priti Patel is facing legal action under whistleblowing laws after her former permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam lodged an employment tribunal claim on Monday saying he was forced from his job for exposing her bullying behaviour.Rutnam claims he was constructively dismissed from his role as Home Office permanent secretary after informing the Cabinet...

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen 9.15am GMT Good morning. House of Commons select committees finally started sitting last week, and this morning much of Westminster will be focused on the public administration and constitutional affairs committee (PACAC), where Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, is giving evidence.Sedwill is the most powerful civil servant in Whitehall and even in quiet...

Home secretary may have to give evidence under oath if case comes to tribunalSir Philip Rutnam, the senior civil servant who resigned on Saturday claiming he was bullied and forced from office, has begun legal action against the government over his treatment by Priti Patel, his union has told the Guardian.Legal documents name the home secretary, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office as...

Gove tells MPs government will not set up fully independent inquiry into allegations Patel breached ministerial codeLatest politics news - live updatesThe Cabinet Office is to launch an inquiry into explosive claims that Priti Patel lied and bullied officials in several government departments, Michael Gove has told MPs.The de facto deputy prime minister said the government would not set up a fully independent inquiry...

Sir Philip Rutnam will sue for unfair dismissal, saying the home secretary began a ‘vicious’ campaign against him Related: From unflappable civil servant to Priti Patel’s biggest headache Priti Patel’s future as the home secretary is being called into question this weekend after the most senior civil servant in her department resigned in a row over her alleged bullying of staff – and then...

Downing Street issues series of dos and don’ts on language department staff must useForeign Office staff have been banned from using certain words and phrases in discussing Brexit – including “implementation period”, “no deal”, “special partnership” and even Brexit itself unless in certain narrow circumstances.The directive underlines the degree to which Downing Street is determined that everyone in the department follows its ideological lead...

Top ministers are warned to stay off TV with reshuffle alert part of plan by Dominic CummingsBoris Johnson is to tell cabinet ministers that they must focus all their energy on developing policies for post-Brexit Britain – or face the sack in a wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle within weeks.In an extraordinary move, Johnson will tell his most senior ministers that they must concentrate on “delivery”...

Boris Johnson’s chief adviser touts for ‘unusual’ applicants outside of the Oxbridge setDominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, has written a rambling blog calling for “weirdos and misfits with odd skills” to apply for new jobs within No 10.In a move way outside the usual recruitment procedures of Whitehall, the key architect of Johnson’s election victory has outlined a set of “unusual” qualities he...

PM intends to set plans for Brexit bill, carry out minor cabinet reshuffle and present Queen’s speech before ChristmasBoris Johnson will tell the next generation of more than 100 new Tory MPs that they have a responsibility to change the the party for good, as he sets out plans for a first vote on his Brexit bill before the festive season.With just a week...

Exclusive: Whistleblower tells of links between Paola Cuneo, PM and US businesswomanA Whitehall official who ran the scheme that granted Jennifer Arcuri a coveted entrepreneur visa had worked for Boris Johnson when he was mayor, the Guardian has learned.The US businesswoman, who is at the centre of a conflict of interest row over her friendship with the prime minister, beat nearly 2,000 applicants to...

Cabinet secretary urged to look into conflict of interest fears raised by Philip Hammond and Rachel JohnsonThe UK’s most senior civil servant is under pressure to investigate Boris Johnson’s financial backers following cross-party claims that unnamed individuals stand to benefit from the prime minister’s willingness to pursue a no-deal Brexit.John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has written to the cabinet secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, asking...

A no-deal exit would trigger complex negotiations, argues former top DexEU civil servantClaiming a no-deal Brexit represents a clean break with the European Union is “nonsensical”, according to Philip Rycroft, the former permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the EU.Boris Johnson has promised to extricate the UK from the EU on 31 October “come what may” – and has hinted that he could...

Dominic Cummings ‘pissed off’ about briefings on pay and gender balance – reportA furious Sajid Javid confronted Boris Johnson on Friday and demanded an explanation of why his media adviser was sacked without his knowledge, amid claims that a deep “culture of fear” has taken hold within the government. Sonia Khan, Javid’s media adviser, was escorted from No 10 by an armed police officer...