Hostile briefings ‘detrimental’ to government’s performance, says former civil service chief who clashed with Cummings

The former civil service chief who clashed with Dominic Cummings has warned that hostile briefings have become a “regrettable feature” of modern politics and are “detrimental” to the government’s performance.

Lord Sedwill, who said he had been accused of being both a “Brexiteer fellow traveller” and “at the heart of the Remainiac resistance”, said he was the subject of unprecedented levels of negative briefings during his time as cabinet secretary.

His comments came after a week of turmoil at the heart of government with acrimonious briefings levelled at senior figures in No 10 – including Boris Johnson’s fiancee Carrie Symonds – culminating in the resignations of both Mr Cummings and director of communications Lee Cain.

Speaking to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Lord Sedwill also rejected suggestions he was forced out of his role as cabinet secretary by Boris Johnson, telling MPs: “At no point did the prime minister ask me to step down.”

“It was voluntary by agreement,” he said. “I left on voluntary exit terms, by agreement with the prime minister.”

Addressing the issue of anonymous briefings in government, Lord Sedwill said: “As we’ve seen… only in the last week or so briefing against ministers, briefing against special advisers, briefing against other leading personalities involved or within government is a regrettable feature of modern political life and it is detrimental to good governance whoever it is at the wrong end of it."

While he said it was not a “new phenomena”, he added: “I think it’s new for the civil service to find yourselves in the firing line in quite such a personalised way.

“I can’t imagine any of my predecessors as cabinet secretary finding themselves being speculated about being fired with a change of prime minister approaching as I was while the leadership election [in 2019] was still underway.”

Lord Sedwill said both Theresa May and Mr Johnson were vocal in their support for the civil service during his time in the role, but went on: “There is a lack of discipline I’m afraid and people do indulge themselves and it’s going to take a shift in the consensus of the way politics operates in order for it to cease and us to return to a healthier means of operating.”

While he said it was not “irreversible” it had damaged trust, warning that individuals, including civil servants, may feel they cannot be “completely candid”.

“People will hold back,” he said. “They won’t be truthful. They won’t necessarily give the blunt and candid advice that they should. They won’t necessarily reveal their concerns and that must mean that not only trust is damaged but decision making is poorer. Trust and confidence is essential to good governance and leaks, hostile briefings all the rest of it inevitably undermine it. Nothing is irreversible but it will be good if it were reversed.”

Pressed on the exit of Mr Cummings and the Mr Cain from No 10 last week, Lord Sedwill told the committee: “These things happen from time to time, advisers come and go in government and clearly the prime minister wants to try and ensure he has the right support around him as he navigates through the next phase.

“But as for the specifics and the stories I see in the press, I don’t really have any more insight than anyone else not directly involved.”

Asked whether their resignations reflected international tensions that he might have been aware of in his former post, he added: “I think there are always tensions and frictions within government, particularly when governments are under pressure.”

In his appearance on Tuesday, Lord Sedwill also suggested a high-profile report into bullying allegations levelled against Priti Patel, the home secretary, had been with the prime minister to consider since he left his post in June.

“The process itself was initiated in the Spring," he said. “I genuinely don’t know where things stand since I left but the process was underway, the process was establish the facts have Alex Allan consider it because the prime minister wanted his advice and the prime minister needs to reflect and make a decision – that as I understand it is still in train.”