The modern-day Stable of Augias

 

 

There was one news item late yesterday afternoon which had me crowing with delight.  It was an ‘exclusive’ in the DT. For some strange reason it’s not been picked up elsewhere in the Westminster MSM. Patience – more on this below. It demonstrates nicely my constant reminder that the mandarins run this ‘show’, not the elected government.

Firstly, the horse ‘Partygate’ seems to have been flogged to near-death by the MSM which are now focussing on Sunak and ‘energy costs’. Given the horrendously lax attitude the Treasury mandarins have shown regarding the institutionalised fraudulent waste of our money, for example in regard to the whole covid~NHS~Lockdown ‘performance’, this is not encouraging at all.

It also makes one seriously wonder if these mandarins do understand economics as well as their alleged political neutrality. It’s socialist redistributing on the one hand while at the same time letting Big Energy get away with murder. 

Sunak, we’re told, will propose ‘a cut in council tax’ for the poorest, i.e. all who live in the tax bands of A – C. In other words, he’ll have to shell out more of our money to local councils to make up for this rebate: that’s redistribution. Worse, he’ll ‘unveil’ a plan which looks like a bribe before the local elections in May:

“The chancellor is also expected to confirm plans for billions of pounds in state-backed loans to give all households a one-off discount of £200 on their energy bills in April. The “rebate and clawback” scheme will mean taxpayers underwriting loans to energy providers. The companies will pass the money on to households in the form of a rebate on bills, limiting the impact of price rises. They will recoup the money from consumers in subsequent years to pay back the loans as energy prices fall.” (link, paywalled)

If this isn’t a perfect example of making oneself look good at this particular moment! As if we poor eejits don’t understand that we’ll have to pay it back later anyway. Treasury mandarins and bankers like Sunak understand balance sheets very well and are great at shuffling fabulous sums around their always patient papers or computer screens. They are well cushioned from the actual impacts their games have on ordinary lives and it’s not just those living in houses in bands A – C who will have to bear them. 

If the Whitehall mandarins believe bribing us with our own money will endear Sunak to us peasants, that we’ll hail him as potential Johnson replacement, then they better think again. A Macron he isn’t, even while yon wannabe Napoleon has taken a leaf out of Sunak’s and the Treasury’s books when he pledged to ‘Teh Poor’ in Normandy

“[…] a €200 million budget to renovate homes, roads and other infrastructure in run-down former mining communities, adding that the funds would be topped up whenever needed, with no apparent ceiling on the amount he was prepared to spend.” (link, paywalled)

Oh yes – he’ll also ‘curb’ illegal immigration by strengthening the EU borders … is that why he’s letting them all cross the Channel in their dinghies? Furthermore he’ll chat with Putin again to find a way out. This is in stark contrast to Johnson who told Putin that Ukraine ‘has a right to join NATO’ and that Putin’s troops should ‘go home’ (paywalled link).  Well, they are ‘home’, aren’t they, or is Russia not their home? Which of his many SpAds advised him? Since Johnson called Putin from No 10 – did his wifey give him the script? I ask because The Times tells us that:

“Johnson is struggling to implement a planned shake-up of his Downing Street operation, amid concerns among civil servants about his character and long-term survival prospects. Senior Whitehall sources said permanent secretaries were reluctant to put themselves forward for the “poisoned chalice” of a new role heading up the Office of the Prime Minister.” (link, paywalled)

It looks as if our fabulous mandarins care more about their own careers than doing their duty, to help the elected ministers and PM to run the government for this country. It’s almost as if they were surreptitiously trying to force Johnson out. Given the ‘advice’ the Treasury mandarins seem to have given Sunak, one might even think that Whitehall mandarins are socialists at heart, hoping for and working towards ‘regime change’. Don’t forget the many briefings from ‘Whitehall sources’ on which our Westminster MSM thrive!

And so to the one news item which delighted me so much yesterday evening. Sorry, it’s to do with ‘Partygate’ but it is hugely significant. You recall that head of the civil service under Ms May, the one who was instrumental in nearly scuppering Brexit, yon Martin Sedwill, don’t you. He stayed in his post until the end of June 2020, thus being the top Mandarin under whose supervision some of those parties took place. The DT reports in their ‘exclusive’:

“Lord Sedwill, the former Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser, was one of several senior officials to attend a gathering to mark the departure of a Downing Street private secretary on June 18, 2020. The gathering – described by one source as “raucous” – was attended by 20 people, who drank wine and celebrated in the Cabinet Office. At the time, indoor social gatherings were forbidden under lockdown laws. A relaxation of the regulations permitted gatherings of up to six to take place outside. Lord Sedwill, 57, is said to have “briefly attended” and sanctioned the event, with Whitehall insiders suggesting he had worked closely with the official, whose brief in Number 10 included security issues.” (paywalled link)

Ah – so the then mandarin of mandarins saw nothing wrong in permitting this ‘event’ to go ahead! His successor, Mr Simon Chase, attended a ‘Christmas Quiz in his office in 2020 and excused himself from investigating the whole mess. The DT observes that “both the former and current heads of the civil service under Mr Johnson have been placed at gatherings alleged to have broken Covid rules.” and that both declined to comment (paywalled link). This allows me to conclude: the two mandarins of mandarins thought that the lockdown rules clearly needn’t apply to themselves and the oh-so hardworking SpAds. 

Nothing could demonstrate more clearly the culture of disdain for us, their employers, pervading Whitehall. Not just the usual suspects of the wannabe Westminster ‘elites’ but the mandarins themselves think they’re above the rules which we plebs must obey. This also makes me wonder how many other rule-breaking ‘parties’ were held in the Whitehall offices during that time. It makes me wonder how deep and detrimental the connections between those top civil serpents and the Westminster hack pack are. I for one have not forgotten their Remain ideology, the way they’ve been working against our explicit will for Leave, ever since our vote in 2016.

It makes me wonder if this Whitehall Remain swamp and its critters aren’t also working hard to get the ‘Rejoin’ Party back into government. Chances are that, as long as Johnson toes their line, as long as Sunak institutes socialist policies, they’ll surreptitiously nudge us back further and further into BRINO. ‘Net Zero’ is another of their wet dreams which they’ve successfully sold to Johnson and especially to his wifey. 

The question Mrs Thatcher asked these many decades ago: “who governs this country?” applies today as well. The answer though isn’t ‘the trade unions’, it’s: ‘unelected Whitehall Mandarins’. I suggest that this Augias Stable needs cleaning out as much as No 10 and their ‘Partygate Culture’ – an urgent task for a Tory successor to the current PM.