The prime minister wrote to civil servants in May justifying plans for a reduction in headcount of almost 20%, saying the government must reduce its costs “just as many families are doing”.
But a review by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, Johnson’s former chief of staff, is reported to have caused the Treasury to have second thoughts about the plans, given the potential impact on wider services.
Johnson had tasked the cabinet with cutting staff by a fifth, telling ministers during an away day in Stoke-on-Trent this year that every bit of cash saved on government spending could be better used elsewhere.
His plans are backed by Liz Truss, the frontrunner for the Conservative party leadership, who has been accused of making “ludicrous” claims as she vowed to cut civil service salaries and reduce expenditure to recoup £11bn a year in a “war on Whitehall waste ”.
However, a Whitehall insider who was said to have worked on the plans to axe tens of thousands of civil servants was quoted in the Financial Times as saying that the prime minister had announced the move without fully thinking through the implications.
This story is from the August 09, 2022 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the August 09, 2022 edition of The Guardian.
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