Public servants need to understand the Downing Street approach to their future

At the beginning of July there were two important speeches.

One came from the Prime Minister – a typical bish-bash-bosh tour de force culminating in the much-trailed Build Build Build slogan. Significant on many counts and a clear signal of how his Government wants to steer the ship of state towards calmer waters post-pandemic, and post-Brexit.

The other came from Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the form of the Ditchley Annual Lecture. This is a more cerebral, vastly expansive and comprehensive walk-through Downing Street thinking as it considers significant changes to the way Government (well the Gove bit of it anyway) might react in these turbulent times. In the week following the unplanned departure of the Cabinet Secretary, this is probably compulsory reading for Whitehall mandarins. But aspects of it deserve wider appreciation, especially among those interested in public engagement and consultation even though neither word is mentioned in the speech!

Let’s start by summarising this long and dense lecture. Basically, the analysis part is a

re-iteration of common themes – what he calls “a deep sense of disenchantment on the part of many of our citizens.” He accepts that politicians are partly to blame for having succumbed to the pleasure of the “sugar rush that comes from announcing radical initiatives, unveiling dramatic overhauls, launching new spending programmes, ramping up this and rolling out that …”  And he also laments “success in Government measured by the sound of applause in the village, not the weight we lift from others’ shoulders.”

So far – straightforward analysis, and shared by many.