Tuesday 21 August 2007

Congitive dissonance.


It used to be politicians about to enter government who worried about how the civil servants would respond when there was a change of government, whether they would ignore the priorities of a new government and keep going on as if there had been no change (cognitive dissonance), or indeed actively oppose change. But it would appear that it these fears are no longer just shared by the party coming into power ... but also by the party leaving power.

Mr Smith notes in today's press suggestions of civil service bias towards the SNP being levelled by opposition parties and in particular by Labour MSP George Foulkes who says "I'm forced to pose serious questions about the impartiality of the civil service. Sir John's fawning remarks highlight the importance of a UK-wide civil service which can share knowledge and experience whilst also enshrining impartiality at its core."

There is tremendous irony in Lord Foulkes comments, not least because for the last fifty years Labour has run government by default across Scotland and has virtually erased the distinction between the civil service and government since the 1997 UK General Election when Labour came to power, where they have been ever since. So, if the civil service in Scotland is "fawning" after Alex Salmond's first hundred days in power then it makes Mr Smith wonder how they are behaving in London after ten years.

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