Apropos of nothing at all, we have a new explainer out on how civil service recruitment works Including how involved ministers can be, and exceptions to the recruitment principles 🤔👇

Admire this from Coffey. Lots of former MPs struggle to find their feet and end up in non-jobs. But this is a serious role which furthers Britain’s interests. She was always unlikely to get it. But fair play on throwing her hat into the ring

Good to be quoted in this, alongside Henry Newman - the Corfield case shows up some significant gaps in the civil service's exceptional recruitment process

Dan is completely right but there is something deeply wrong in SW1 which means those campaigns and others similar to it (e.g. we need a new criminal offence of x) are incentivised even though everyone knows it is bad policy Thread on poor incentives in SW1 👇

The Financial Times are picking up the row over Emily Middleton’s appointment and TheWhitehallProject (link in bio) Subscribe to get the latest 👇 Tories criticise Labour appointment of second senior UK civil servant on.ft.com/3WHe83q

Passengers between Oxford and London have a couple of minutes of their lives wasted while Oxford Tube coaches turn off the motorway to stop at a rural stop in the middle of nowhere to qualify for a fuel duty rebate. Tax distortion in action.

I challenge anyone who’s been involved in legislation (even, like me, briefly) to read the Guide to Making Legislation without constant sniggers, snorts and ‘oh god yes, I’d forgotten whens…’

Short circuiting civil service recruitment practices designed to ensure appointment on merit and protect impartiality, is a mistake… my latest for Institute for Government instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/civil-…

Excellent column 👇

The Private Members Bills ballot results are out... Reupping this short thread from last time round, on the various ways backbenchers can introduce their own bills (and what handout PMBs look like from inside government)

Kind of surreal that the vehicle for the big row today is once again an opposition day motion and not the regulations actually enacting changes to the winter fuel payments. The change in the law was made by secondary legislation in recess with no debate or vote by MPs

Heading to Birmingham for #CPC24? Join us for a series of fringe events on industrial strategy, devolution, public services, net zero and more. Find out what we've got lined up on Monday 30 September and Tuesday 1 October instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/ifg-cons…

Applications to the civil service fast stream have declined substantially in recent years – by 58% between 2020-23, a warning sign for the programme. But a closer look at Cabinet Office data suggests the trend has not been consistent across all categories of applicants. (1/2)

Latest from me Institute for Government – here are the five steps Keir Starmer should take to fix his ailing centre of government instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/five-w…