‘We won the war – of course civil service can do Brexit’

ASSISTANT POLITICAL EDITOR BRITAIN’S victory in the Second World War shows why the civil service will deliver Brexit despite concerns it is underprepared, a former top mandarin has said.

In a defiant message to critics, Lord Butler of Brockwell dismissed as “unfair” suggestions that Whitehall is in “chaos” over delivering the vote to leave the EU.

He said those warning that civil servants are ill prepared for Brexit talks are “crying before the milk’s been spilt”.

“I’ve got pretty good confidence in the civil service. We could organise the Second World War, so I guess we could still organise Brexit,” he said.

Lord Butler served as cabinet secretary and head of the civil service under three prime ministers – Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair.

A leaked memo last week by consultants Deloitte said up to 30,000 new staff were needed to deliver Brexit.

On Tuesday, the crossbencher will appear before the public administration committee to discuss the civil service, alongside Lord Kerslake, another former top mandarin.

Lord Kerslake is expected to take a more critical tone, calling for the Government to “pause” civil service cuts and assess what skills gaps need to be filled to deliver Brexit.

Lord Butler said: “This is a very bigscale project, and people shouldn’t minimise the size of the task. But in the past the civil service has shown itself capable of doing that sort of thing when the call has come,” he said.

“Some of [the criticism] is unfair. It’s crying before the milk’s been spilt, if that’s the right way of putting it.

“Understandably… the Opposition wants to say you were completely unprepared for this, there was no plan. Well there couldn’t be, really, until it happened and then you’ve got to face the task.”

Lord Butler believes a recruitment drive is needed of lawyers and trade experts – competencies eroded in the civil service. But he fell short of calling for a stop to the cuts implemented under David Cameron’s premiership.