Sir Cover-Up given dressing down by MPs

THE head of the Civil Service was given a humiliating rebuke by MPs yesterday for clearing taxpayerfunded Whitehall advisers to take part in political campaigning.

Sir Jeremy Heywood was ‘wrong in law’ when he said Theresa May’s special advisers were allowed to canvass in last year’s Rochester by-election.

Nick Timothy and Stephen Parkinson had refused a party demand to do so, saying it was a breach of their code. They were suspended, and to help Downing Street justify the decision, Sir Jeremy ruled it was acceptable for special advisers to take part in ‘backroom support’.

But that interpretation has now been rejected by the Public Administration Select Committee.

The decision is another blow to the reputation of the country’s top mandarin – known as Sir Cover-Up for trying to block the publication of letters related to the Iraq War.