Ministers are not playing by the rules

One ugly legacy of last year’s referendum campaign, says Raphael Hogarth, has been the ripping up of the government rule book. Under the British system, Whitehall is meant to implement the Government’s programme, not advance politicians’ electoral interests: yet during the referendum, David Cameron shamelessly “commandeered” the civil service to help the Remain effort – to prepare briefings, speeches, even campaign materials. Civil servants are also meant to plan for outcomes the government hopes to avoid, yet Cameron proscribed any internal contingency planning for a Leave vote. These, you could say, were anomalous procedures for an anomalous time: trouble is, they’ve stuck. Brexit Secretary David Davis hasn’t commissioned any work on the eventuality of not getting a deal in Brussels, a step any responsible government should take. And last week, ministers were under fire for instructing civil servants to peddle slogans used in Tory party political broadcasts. It’s the road to perdition. The old Whitehall conventions weren’t perfect, but they’ve persisted “for a reason”.