Tuesday 26 March 2019

'Believe me, the Civil Service is trying to sink Brexit. I have seen it from the inside'

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A civil servant has anonymously told Rachel Sylvester of the Times (an unreconstructed Remainer) that
“The civil service is totally against no-deal. Mark Sedwill has warned it could lead to a border poll in Northern Ireland and increase the chances of the Union breaking up. He has also told the cabinet he has security concerns, but they have been ploughing ahead with the preparations for party political reasons.”
Another anonymous civil servant (I suspect that, in fact, he is a diplomat) has told the Telegraph that the senior civil service is trying to prevent Brexit, should you not have already guessed.

I have met thousands of civil servants in the past few years: I can only recall five who voted for Brexit.
At first, I thought they were perhaps just staying quiet given the political climate, but my worst fear was confirmed during the high-profile remainer Gina Miller’s successful court case to make sure Parliament has a say on the Brexit outcome.
When it was announced she had won her case, I witnessed large teams within the Foreign Office break out into cheers and applause. Seriously.
A quick scroll though the social media accounts of my colleagues and you will find images of them proudly waving ‘Remain’ placards, campaigning for a ‘People’s Vote’, boasting ‘Jez we can’ and of course the usual apocalyptic messages of doom since the Brexit vote. The double-standards are astonishing. If I so much as followed the activities of Nigel Farage, I have no doubt that I would be called in for questioning. I re-call one conversation with a senior member of staff at the Foreign Office who told me she was ashamed when Boris Johnson was appointed Foreign Secretary as he is so “typically British”.
This department is particularly notorious for its anti-Brexit bias. My experience tells me that there is a genuine hatred of those who voted for Brexit.
....  I have in fact come across senior staff working on our post-Brexit relationships who openly talk down the prospect of a UK-US FTA and encourage anti-Trump hysteria. Many of them even joined the protests against the President’s visit last year. During his visit it was common to hear jokes about Trump’s assassination from the very people meant to be working with our closest ally. The only thing worse than being pro-Brexit in the Civil Service is being pro-Trump.



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