12 January 2017
Brussels Pouts
Rogers unmanderined.
by J.R.Thomas
It must be bad enough having to cope with a bunch of troublesome Tory backbenchers, without having the servants turn on you as well. The civil servants that is. Sir Ivan Rogers in particular, Britain’s Ambassador to the European Commission, who resigned last week with remarkable impact, scattering brickbats as he went. Civil servants of course do not have opinions or causes or convictions; when they do, they know that the route to resolving any conflict of high principle with instructions they do not care for, is to have a quiet word with a senior colleague to ensure that they will be moved somewhere else where they can go on being quietly effective. Or even quietly ineffective. The key bit of the phrase is “quietly”.
Government would rapidly become impossible if the consciences of those who are paid to do the grunt work started to get in the way. The job of the senior civil servant is to advise, perhaps to propose, to warn, to possibly protest a bit, and then to implement whatever has been decided by his or her political masters. The job emphatically does not involve lobbying, campaigning, pushing (or pulling) or leading, unless specifically instructed and delegated. In practice of course senior civil servants, and particularly those in the pay of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, can find themselves quite active at the political sharp end. To be in a visible role in a fast moving situation in a remote place often means that the Ambassador there, or his senior colleagues, will have to take much on their own shoulders, in the knowledge that they have of the government’s approach and strategy, hoping they get it right, but knowing that if they have done their best to do the right thing, then they will not be hung out to dry if things go wrong.
It is a subtle relationship that such senior representatives of Her Majesty enjoy, not made easier by what is usually their superior knowledge, their thought through and politically detached views, and the fact they usually remain in post much longer than their political bosses. Clever ministers know to work well with their civil servants and to listen carefully, and to explain why on occasion they will be steering a very different course, but that they are always grateful for the professional input.
In Brussels, that seems to have gone wrong. Sir Ivan, a gifted servant of the state who has long specialised in European matters (though he did step away from government to work in the City for two international banks for five years) made a noisy exit that attracted the praise of pro-Remainers, and the scorn of Leavers. He distributed widely a slightly sanctimonious memo, instantly leaked as presumably intended, and poured petrol on the lighter fluid by suggesting that he had, or thought that he had had, an especially close relationship with the Prime Minister, drinking late night whiskies with her. Sir Ivan has strongly held opinions on Europe and Brexit; he was certainly entitled to say in private “I am so uncomfortable with this I can no longer do the job I am doing.” He might even have wished to quietly resign altogether and, after a suitable period, campaign as a private citizen against Brexit. As it is, he has had to instantly resign and has left the Service, losing his country a good man who could have done a useful job elsewhere.
The ripples are already starting to smooth out, though Sir Ivan may soon be taking the opportunity to supplement his pension by a few articles or interviews, or perhaps the knocking out of a thoughtful book. What really went on will no doubt become clearer over time, though a suggestion now doing the rounds is that Mrs May – or Mr Johnson – thought Sir Ivan too closely allied with the strategies of a former occupier of No 10 to be an effective negotiator of a hard, soft or even medium firm Brexit, and that it had been intimated to him that he should be considering taking down the plaster ducks in the Brussels residence and making plans to move on. Perhaps he decided to move on with a disruptive bang; if so, mission accomplished.
Certainly, Sir Ivan’s political boss, the neatly cropped carefully spoken smiling chap believed to be vaguely related to the former Mayor of London, has managed to escape any suggestion of chaos in the FO, or indeed late night whisky drinking, but one cannot help imagining that the emotional excitable Foreign Secretary we thought we had, who favours Leaving,may not have the closest relationship with rather dry calculating rational senior Remainer diplomats. But so far, Boris has ducked the mud. Maybe the mandarins have a bigger game for him – or think that in due course the Prime Minister will solve that problem.
Sir Ivan’s personal beliefs and agenda may be part of this; but another part is probably the developing turf war in Whitehall about who does what in the forthcoming negotiations. The Foreign Office tends to think complex diplomatic negotiations are what it is trained to do, so it should be in charge. The weirdly titled Department for Exiting the European Union (what a pity it did not conclude “Positively” – then we could have called it Deeup) thinks that exiting the European Union is its job, understandably. And the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s approach so far rather suggests that in this at least he thinks it unwise to allow anybody else but the Treasury to do the driving. Given the potential, short, medium and long, for economic disaster, one can see indeed why the Treasury mandarins might think that. All this is creating a lot of tension in certain senior parts of Whitehall, and Sir Ivan may well have felt himself to be on what was going to be a losing side.
The Civil Service generally, and the Foreign Office in particular, can almost certainly be characterised as “Remainers”. (I have no evidence whatsoever that this is so, but nevertheless have the strongest suspicion I am right.) To make matters more difficult still, not only are many senior civil servants close to and fond of the European project, they have in matters concerning it developed more freedom of action than is normal for permanent senior mandarins, the politicians mostly being too busy to get involved in the extraordinary detail required to wade through the workings of the Brussels systems, and nervous of the political risks of being seen as European enthusiasts. Mr Cameron in particular was very happy to leave complex matters in this area to his civil service team – and Sir Ivan Rogers in particular. A number of such civil servants have rather got used to a style in which they are listened to, rather than do the listening. That is leading, as we have just seen, to considerable tensions between the new players learning a new game.
And to throw yet another ingredient into the pot now starting to boil, there is general resentment in the Civil Service about the role of external “political” independent advisors, outsiders who are brought in to support, advise, and be muses to particular ministers. Two of these have become famous – Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill who worked for Mrs M at the Home Office, have moved with her to No.10. Such advisors inevitably come between Minister, or Prime Minister, and career civil servants. If both sides are wise, they will be thoughtful and courteous and build relationships with each other. They don’t have to like each other, but it is usually wise in the long run to avoid turf wars and semi-public briefings. Late night whisky probably helps as well.
We can only wish Sir Ivan well. He has collected a full array of gongs which will ensure decent seating at the opera and in restaurants, and a pension which should enable a reasonable lifestyle. Let us hope though that he can quickly adapt to being the outsider looking in, rather than being the insider too important to look out. And that he can afford to buy his own whisky.
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