UNITED KINGDOM
Former United Kingdom Cabinet Minister, Liam Fox (pictured) says the debate over the country leaving the European Union is “over” and the Government should turn its attention to “updating the Civil Service”.
Mr Fox said that with a new Government in place with a strong mandate it was time to “slaughter the sacred cows to which successive Governments have given a last-minute reprieve in order to buy political peace”.
“We need Whitehall structures designed for our post-EU future and a Civil Service that is able to wean itself quickly away from two generations of Euro-centricity,” Mr Fox said.
He supported plans to merge the Department for International Development (DFID) with the Foreign Office, saying it was time for significant internal change to match the scale of the external challenge.
“With a new Government elected, with a strong majority, in a Britain about to abandon some of the institutions to which it has been shackled for the last 40 years, this is no time to give undue weight to traditional self-interest,” Mr Fox said.
He said he favoured bringing more political appointments into Ministerial private offices, but that impartial Public Servants should remain throughout the rest of the system.
Mr Fox’s call comes after charities and Conservative former Aid Ministers urged Prime Minister, Boris Johnson not to axe the DFID.
Former Secretary for International Development, Andrew Mitchell said scrapping the Ministry would “destroy the most highly respected and effective international development organisation in the world”.
He said the specialist and talented people who ran it would quickly be poached by international organisations and bodies.
London, 15 January 2020
