Reform plans ‘ideological purge’ of Whitehall

Reform UK is planning a purge of Whitehall’s most senior civil servants if it wins the next general election, The Observer has learned.

As part of its preparation plans, Nigel Farage’s party is proposing to sack virtually all the permanent secretaries and directors general, who head government departments and manage teams of thousands. They would be replaced primarily by political appointees and outsiders with expertise of a departmental brief, as well as some internal promotions, according to sources familiar with the plans. It is thought donors will not be eligible.

The party, which is flush with cash, including £12m from the Thailand-based businessman Christopher Harborne, is also scouting for industry experts to appoint as ministers, some of whom will go straight into the House of Lords rather than seek election as MPs.

Policy and preparation teams are now expanding to shape legislation that will be brought forwards promptly after gaining power, although Farage is understood to take minimal interest in the details himself.

One source said the approach being taken would emulate “Trump 2”. The US president issued a flurry of executive orders in the first 100 days of his second term and hired tech billionaire Elon Musk as his head of Doge – the department of government efficiency – to cut spending and regulations.

Figures from within Reform have long bemoaned what they brand the “bloated” civil service, with the overall numbers rising since Brexit, and have worried officials may try to obstruct their policies.

In a speech last year, Danny Kruger, the MP for East Wiltshire who is now in charge of the party’s preparations for government, said Reform would “grip the civil service itself” and that he expected “headcount to fall dramatically” should the party win.

“When Nigel Farage walks into No 10 as prime minister on the day after the next election, I don’t want the cabinet secretary to welcome him in like the latest short-term tenant of the building, sit him down for a briefing on the house rules and then politely ask if he would like to change anything about the decor,” Kruger said. Instead Farage would “sit the civil servants down and tell them the plan” with “people lined up for key appointments”.

But Reform’s plans have prompted anger from Dave Penman, general secretary of the civil service union, the FDA. “An ideological purge does not make for good government,” he said. “You would lose experience and institutional memory, but you would also send a message to the rest of the civil service that they are not trusted.

“How do you expect to bring in the brightest and the best if you then throw them under a bus? This would attract believers, but not necessarily the best people. And it shouldn’t be about what people believe. It’s about what they can do.”

“Another problem is that as soon as you have political picks, when you change the minister they will want their own pick as well. In the last 10 years we have had whole football teams of secretaries of state. If you changed the permanent secretary every time it would be a massive churn, and very disruptive.”

Alex Thomas, executive director of the Institute for Government, said: “There’s nothing inherently wrong with making more political appointments: other countries do it. And the civil service does need to be set a clear direction and galvanised by its leadership.

“The question is: what is effective? A blanket dismissal of the whole of the top of civil service would be removing an enormous amount of experience, expertise and knowledge of how to make government do its job.

“If the intent is shock and awe, I would be surprised if it works. The history of government reform shows that people who succeed are those who galvanise, find allies and work with the system rather than going to war with it.”

Photograph by Mark Thomas/Alamy