Every new government, whether in Sri Lanka or the United Kingdom, arrives with certain ambitions: to prove its independence and cut through red tape and bureaucracy within a short period. In the UK, the Starmer Labour Government’s method of “bending the rules” faces the entrenched mindset of the Civil Service, which is well documented in the dailies.
Bending the Civil Service to its will has left the UK Government vulnerable to accusations of cronyism. However, it has countered this criticism in various ways.
As widely known, Labour has promised the “moon and the stars”—no increase in taxes, a strict fiscal rules policy, borrowing only to invest, and building 1.5 million new homes, among other pledges. Some of these promises are seen as impractical.
Now, the government claims to have discovered a gaping hole in its finances, supposedly left behind by the Conservatives, though the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) contests this. The Chancellor and the Prime Minister are both “preaching” the same mantra: that “life will be hard before it gets better,” in the lead-up to the Budget on 30 October 2024.
Upon taking office on 5 July 2024, Labour came out with all guns blazing, appointing party backers to key positions in various ministries, aiming “to bend the Civil Service to its will” in order to execute its policies. Many of these controversial appointments were not subject to open recruitment processes; rather, they were imposed on departments by fiat, as trusted expert advisers to Ministers, according to the Institute for Government.
Labour is now facing allegations of cronyism after appointing several of its backers, including Ian Corfield, a former banker who donated £20,000 to Labour politicians, to a Treasury post. The Civil Service Commission approved an “exception” to the usual requirement for open competition. Corfield has since stepped down and become a temporary, unpaid Treasury adviser to Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Other appointees still in office include a former Labour Together Think Tank worker, who remains as Deputy Director in the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Construction Unit, and a consultant who has been appointed as a Director General in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The press also reported that another Labour Party supporter was offered a temporary Downing Street pass.
People often associate cronyism, Tory sleaze, or political appointments through the back door with the underdeveloped world—a slur on good governance. Sadly, though, it is a global phenomenon that undermines governments everywhere.
The real issue is that Labour does not want to allow the Civil Service the freedom to control governance. The checks and balances on hasty legislation pose a real threat to the Civil Service—or so it seems.
However, for Prime Minister Starmer, who has long criticised the “degrading of standards in public life” and blamed the Conservatives for “the decline in public trust,” these appointments are necessary to manage the urgent situation he has inherited.
The inner workings of Whitehall have continued to rumble along in the press.
Addressing reporters after a major speech, the Prime Minister dismissed allegations of cronyism, stating that he wanted “honesty and integrity in his government, and the right people in the right places.”
