Maude urged to abandon Whitehall plan

Francis Maude is facing resistance to his controversial plans to make key parts of Whitehall more political, with experts warning that his plans could undermine the impartiality of the British civil service.

A report published on Tuesday by the Institute for Government says the cabinet office minister should abandon his proposals to let ministers appoint their own “cabinets” to help them overcome the bureaucracy of the government machine.

The report looks at three systems praised recently by Mr Maude – those in Brussels, France and Australia – and finds all three have had to be modified amid complaints of confused chains of command and alternative policy making structures. It says: “The downside to these larger and more political offices is the greater potential for tension between the ministerial team and the rest of the department.”

The IfG adds, however, that ministers should be allowed to beef up their private offices and have a say in appointing their top civil servants, who would then report to the minister as well as to the department’s permanent secretary.

The report is likely to fuel tension between Mr Maude and Sir Jeremy Heywood, the head of the civil service, who is known to share some of the concerns expressed in it.

Relations between the two men at the heart of attempts to reform Whitehall reached a low last year when Mr Maude believed Sir Jeremy had been at the centre of a plot to oust him from his ministerial role. Allies say the two men are now working closely together, but some of Mr Maude’s more controversial suggestions threaten to expose those tensions once again.

Mr Maude is hoping that a similar report commissioned last year from the Institute of Public Policy Research will give greater support to his suggestions.