Sir Humphrey the revolting Remoaner . . .
Some of Britain’s most senior retired civil servants have taken the unusual step of publicly criticising Theresa may over Brexit — an insurgency dubbed the Revolt of the mandarins.
The intemperate resignation of Britain’s EU ambassador Sir Ivan Rogers, an ardent europhile, was the trigger for the carefully co-ordinated attack.
Lord Kerslake, head of the civil service from 2012-14, has taken up the baton in a letter to The Times, a Remain-supporting newspaper. Questioning the Government’s readiness for Brexit, he said civil servants had to be ‘led, resourced properly, and listened to even when their advice is not welcome’.
As a former head of the civil service, you would expect Kerslake to be an impartial voice. Not a bit of it. Since he entered the House of Lords in march 2015, he’s voted 50 times out of a possible 149 — and never with the Government.
even though he was made a life peer by then Pm David Cameron, every time he’s trooped through the Division lobby with Labour, which makes a mockery of the fact he sits on the crossbenches.
It’s also lucrative work. Kerslake has trousered £40,500 through the tax-free £300 daily attendance up to July, when figures were last published. This is in addition to the gold-plated pension on his £200,000 civil service salary.
Just the man to lead the revolt of the Remoaners.
BY RESIGNING as EU ambassador, Sir Ivan probably hoped to avoid a bruising encounter with Bill Cash, veteran chairman of the Commons european scrutiny committee. But the wily Cash, who has a forensic knowledge of the EU, has reminded Rogers he is expecting him to come before the committee irrespective of the resignation. Book a ringside seat.