Tory chairman apologises to civil service for ‘activist blob’ email. Why not Braverman?
Greg Hands: I’d forgotten I had this duff graphic that approximates his image. I suits what he’s done here, though.
Suella Braverman said she wouldn’t apologise to civil servants for saying they blocked her bid to stop Channel migrants coming to the UK in an email to Tory supporters – and she hasn’t.
It was left to party chairman Greg Hands to do it instead.
The email, in Braverman’s name, sent by Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) to party members, said the following:
“We tried to stop the small boats crossings without changing our laws.
“But an activist blob of left wing lawyers, civil servants and the Labour Party blocked us.”
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA Union, which represents civil servants, stated in a letter to prime minister Rishi Sunak that it was “a direct attack on the integrity and impartiality of the thousands of civil servants who loyally serve the home secretary, doing some of the most complex and difficult work in government”.
Penman also said Braverman may have broken the ministerial code, which says ministers must “uphold the impartiality of the civil service”.
Braverman disowned the email, despite the fact that it went out under her name.
She told Robert Peston: “I didn’t write that email, I didn’t see it and it was an error that it was sent out in my name.”
Nevertheless, her name was attached to it and for that reason alone, she had an apology to make. She should have been paying attention to what was being said in her name. She didn’t.
Instead, we hear that the head of the civil service, Simon Case, has written to the PCS union to say that Hands has apologised for the “error”:
“He assured me that he has already taken action to change procedures in CCHQ to make sure that there is not a repeat of this incident,” the head of the civil service said.
Hands has also “provided his assurance that attacks on the civil service are not part of any standard CCHQ lines”, Case added.
It’s not enough, is it? It’s just a proxy apology from a civil servant to a civil service union. Where’s the full and frank apology and explanation from the Home Secretary?
Source: Simon Case: Conservative Party chair has apologised for ‘activist civil servants’ email
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She should not even be in office. Forced to resign and re-appointed after just 6 days!