Civil Servants Want Out Of the Home Office

The Times today suggests that the rats are fleeing the ship in the Home Office.

A FORMER leading Home Office civil servant has accused Tony Blair and John Reid of failing to keep talented senior staff and trying to “buy off” the tabloid press.
“There are some fine people in the Home Office. Never a week goes by without them ringing me to ask how I got out. There’s going to be a haemorrhaging of talent,” he said.
Mr Narey, who left the Home Office last year to run Barnardo’s, the children’s charity, also condemned Mr Reid for attacking his own department. Two weeks after becoming Home Secretary, Mr Reid declared to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that the Immigration and Nationality Directorate was “not fit for purpose”.

When you employ people, as any employer should note, it is not wise to appear on the front page of the Sun telling the entire world that you think they have done a crap job and are unfit for the job at hand. Through all its troubles in the past few years you haven’t seen the Chairman of Marks and Spencer coming into the press saying “Well the staff are crap so we’ve got a difficult task”.

Basically Reid has the business sense of an earwig and he’s in charge of one of the biggest employers in the Europe. Although if you want a comforting thought it’s not the biggest employer… that’s the NHS and it is run by Patricia Hewitt.

Mr. Narey continues with blistering style:

Mr Narey, who was Second Permanent Secretary in the Home Office under David Blunkett, said: “There are a lot of very talented, hard-working people in the Home Office. For them to be traduced for a soundbite was scandalous. You cannot go into an organisation and trash it.”

Apparently this is false it is perfectly possible to go into an organisation and trash it, Reid has done just that. The very idea of ministerial responsibility is lying out in the back yard with Reid, he’s stormed in blamed everyone other than ministers and then fecked off out the door weaing a flak vest to look tough. The fact is Reid we don’t want a tough Home Secretary we want a competent Home Secretary. You are not one.