The head of the United Kingdom’s Public Service, Sir Mark Sedwill (pictured), has announced his resignation amid anger from former colleagues who say he has been deliberately and unfairly blamed for the Government’s bungled Coronavirus response.
After weeks of tense negotiations over his job, Sir Mark said in a letter to Prime Minister, Boris Johnson that he would quit his roles as Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser.
His departure will be seen as a victory for Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s most senior aide, who has had a tense relationship with Sir Mark, and Michael Gove, the Cabinet Minister who is pushing through a restructuring of Government Departments.
Unnamed sources from within Mr Johnson’s personal team told newspapers in March that Sir Mark had failed to get a grip on the Coronavirus crisis.
Another source said he had fallen out with Mr Johnson and his aides over the response to COVID-19.
His resignation comes weeks after other senior Public Servants have either left their posts or are set to depart after the Conservatives’ election victory in December.
Lord Kerslake, a former head of the Public Service, said Sir Mark’s departure followed unfair hostile briefings that attempted to blame Public Servants for mistakes over Coronavirus.
“The recent hostile briefing against Sir Mark has been completely unacceptable and undermined a key role in Government at a time of great national crisis,” Lord Kerslake said.
“I fear from some of the press briefing that had obviously gone on that the Civil Service is being made the fall guy for mistakes made in the handling of the pandemic. This is grossly unfair.”
Lord Kerslake called for an independent inquiry to look at the lessons that could be learnt.
General Secretary of the FDA union, Dave Penman said Mr Johnson’s team had sought to undermine Sir Mark and the leadership of the Public Service with a series of anonymous briefings against him over many months.
“Not only is it a self-defeating and corrosive tactic, it’s also a cowardly one, safe in the knowledge that those who are briefed against are unable to publicly respond,” Mr Penman said.
“How would any potential candidate for Cabinet Secretary judge their prospective employers, given how the current cadre of leaders has been treated by them?” he said.
London, 30 June 2020
