Mandarin and minister

sir – Sir Philip Rutnam (report, March 3) was the chief executive of a large organisation and a Knight of the Realm who was paid nearly £200,000 a year. If he could not take criticism, he had been over-promoted. It was part of Priti Patel’s job as Home Secretary to be assertive in her dealings with him. If she wished to sack or move him, he should have gone at once. The idea of constructive dismissal at that level is nonsensical. Anthony Pick

Newbury, Berkshire

sir – From 1995 to 1997 I chaired two government committees set up by Michael Howard, then home secretary: one to promote and develop the volunteer sector, the other to implement the agreed strategy.

Some of the civil servants with whom I dealt seemed openly hostile to the home secretary and did all they could to frustrate his aims. The head of the unit with which we were working changed frequently.

As we finally moved from the strategy development stage to implementation, we were suddenly relocated into an empty office with no access to crucial information and contacts. Thus we effectively had to start again, losing time and momentum in the process.

Responsibility for volunteering was eventually transferred to the then Department of National Heritage.

Its civil servants were far more constructive and helpful. Nicholas Ward

Banbury, Oxfordshire

sir – Mike Keatinge (Letters, March 2) compares the Royal Navy prior to Samuel Pepys with government – its ministers with aristocratic captains, and its senior civil servants with the professional masters who ran the ships.

What he omits from the analogy is that the master would face an Admiralty Board if he obstructed the captain’s orders or failed to implement them promptly and effectively. David Bell

Cricklade, Wiltshire