Both Constitution 2.0 and Civil Service 2.0 are being targeted by the current Gvmnt. As we know nothing about the likely outcomes, let's have a test run, with a case that is playing out in front of our very eyes and is of more than trivial importance.
- Pls see the end of quote for the source, and also excuse
my underlinings and bolding:
"First, special advisers [David Frost being one, for Brexit, err, no that already happened
] are supposed (at least formally) to keep their mouths shut. The special adviser code says they should “normally” steer clear of public utterances on controversial issues. The fact that no one has taken any action against Frost, indeed that his speech has been lauded, suggests that he has cover for the exception. But is he talking for himself? For the PM—who made his own pitch the week before? Or for the government—did any other minister have a chance to comment?
Second, Frost cannot answer
questions from MPs or make statements on the floor of the House. Who do MPs get to quiz when they want to interrogate the latest UK negotiating position? Is
PMQs the only option? Will Michael Gove pick this up at Cabinet Office questions?
Third, will Frost
appear before select committees? The Exiting the EU Committee is in the process of being re-established despite the loss of the department it shadows. The Lords EU committee is up and running. Brexit secretaries had their run-ins with select committees over their hesitancy to appear—but ultimately they showed up, sometimes in to-be-treasured double acts with Robbins.
If Frost does not show up, will scrutiny have to focus on the civil servants who work with him, or
whoever is deemed to be his official boss (Mark Sedwill? Or the successor to Cabinet Office permanent secretary John Manzoni?) Or will parliament have to rely on the prime minister finally accepting an invitation from the Liaison Committee, which expects to grill leaders regularly but has so far been rebuffed?
And finally,
has Frost been given authority over the civil servants who form his “Task Force Europe”? Special advisers are not supposed to manage civil servants, so how does that work?
None of these questions mean that David Frost is the wrong person for the job. But they do suggest that Sedwill and the PM have some work to do to clarify how Frost’s role is intended to work in practice—and how it fits with the current adviser code. And if that code is no longer fit for purpose, they need to tell us and revise it."
By Jill Rutter, senior fellow at The UK in a Changing Europe. This piece was
originally published by Prospect Magazine.
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)