A Tory MP claimed that Foreign Office officials had said ‘people had got it wrong’ in relation to the Brexit vote.
Alicia Kearns, who formerly worked in the department, made the remarks in relation to allegations about Priti Patel, who faces accusations of bullying from a former civil servant.
Speaking in the Commons, Kearns said: “I was a civil servant at three government departments.
“On the day of the Brexit referendum result, I was told at the Foreign Office by multiple senior civil servants that it was the ‘wrong decision, the people had got it wrong’.
“So my question is that is it not right that sometimes, sadly, ministers do need to be robust with civil servants to make sure the people’s priorities are always delivered?”
Have your say
Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to a print or digital edition for just £13. You can also join our readers' Facebook group to keep the discussion and debate going with thousands of fellow pro-Europeans.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove replied: “You are absolutely right.
“Of course we will all have different opinions about the wisdom of particular policies as individual citizens, but as a government we are united in making sure we will deliver the manifesto on which we were elected.
“One of the strengths of our system of government is that the civil service works energetically and determinedly to ensure the agenda of the government of the day is fulfilled.”
Gove went on to praise civil servants he has worked with.
Most popular
Farage is forced to explain his finances
Biden’s long-awaited decision is game-changing
Sanity is coming home
Trump is losing it
