Reform UK government would replace top civil servants with policy ‘believers’ | Reform UK
The Reform UK government will expect to sack senior civil servants in every ministry and replace them with people seen as more likely to implement the party’s priorities, the Guardian has learned.
Senior Reform figures have concluded that the current crop of permanent secretaries, the chief civil servants in each ministry, are not up to the required standards. Some of them will be replaced by foreigners, others will be replaced by existing officials deemed more suitable.
The plan has sparked warnings that a move to a less stable and more politicized civil service could lead to a significant loss of expertise and institutional memory and make government less effective.
Nigel Farage’s party has promised to introduce a radical programme. One senior member said it would be modeled on the second Trump administration and focus on making changes through executive orders rather than legislation whenever possible.
The reform has already stated that it will consider the appointment of external experts as ministers. As well as some being made peers to get into the House of Lords, it is understood others being considered for ministerial jobs will also be in line for winnable House of Commons seats.
While the party has received a number of major donations in recent months, including £12 million from crypto investor Christopher Harborne, donors for ministerial roles are expected to be overlooked.
The infusion of money allowed Reform to expand its teams working on new policies and government preparations. Farage has made limited contribution to this process so far; Insiders say the party leader is focusing on elections in England, Scotland and Wales in May.
Many other countries, especially the United States, have senior officials who become politicized and change with governments. In the UK, current rules allow ministers to fast-track foreigners into the civil service as “exceptional appointments” for two-year terms.
But unions and experts said Reform’s plans risked hampering rather than improving ministers’ work.
“An ideological purge does not make for good government,” said Dave Penman, general secretary of senior civil servants’ union FDA. “You lose experience and institutional memory, but you also send a message to the rest of the civil service that they are not to be trusted.
“Every civil servant knows that he must serve the government of the day. That’s clear; you either serve or you leave. There is no real evidence that public service will come your way.”
“How do you expect to bring in the brightest and the best if you throw them under a bus? That will attract believers, but not necessarily the best people. And it shouldn’t be about what people believe. It’s about what they can do.”
“Another problem is that as soon as you have political elections, when you change ministers, they will want their own elections. For the last 10 years, our football teams have all been foreign ministers. If you changed the permanent secretary every time, it would be a huge loss and very devastating.”
Alex Thomas, of the Institute for Government think tank, said there was an obvious argument for giving civil servants clear direction.
He continued: “The question is what is effective. A blanket dismissal of the entire top tier of the civil service would remove an enormous amount of experience, expertise and knowledge about how to do the job of government.”
“If the goal is to shock and appall, I would be surprised if it works. The history of government reform shows that those who succeed are those who mobilize the system, find allies and work with it, rather than fighting it.”
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
