£185,000-a-year mandarin accused of ‘going native’

Labour’s Iain Gray, Annabel Goldie of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie claim Sir Peter Housden has broken the civil service code, which is supposed to ensure officials act impartially.

Their complaints against Alex Salmond’s permanent secretary have been lodged with Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet secretary and head of the UK civil service.

Suggestions that Sir Peter had “gone native” emerged when a series of internal memos to civil servants were made public.

Shortly after the May election, Sir Peter, who earns £185,000 a year, wrote to staff saying the constitutional question had moved on from the UK coalition’s plans to devolve more power to Holyrood.

“It is remarkable how the terms of this debate have changed irrevocably in just three weeks. Calman and the status quo now seem lost in the mists of time,” he said.

The extra powers outlined in the Scotland Bill were based on the Calman Commission, which was endorsed by a unionist majority in the last parliament.

Sir Peter talked about how the country was about to “embark on a journey of constitutional reform with the near-term strengthening of the Scotland Bill and a referendum in the second half of the parliament”.

In one of his weekly messages to officials, Sir Peter recommended they should go to see the play Dunsinane, a modern sequel to Macbeth that depicts an English army of occupation attempting to impose itself on Scotland.

In his memo, Sir Peter said of the drama: “To my mind, it does genuinely speak to our present condition as a nation.”

In another, he described an article attacking “Unionist fundamentalism” as “essential reading”.

His remarks have angered Mr Gray, who called for an “urgent review of the conduct structures and staffing of the civil service” in his letter to the Cabinet secretary.

The Scottish Labour leader said: “Recent quotes from the permanent secretary Sir Peter Housden’s briefings for Scottish civil servants show a participation in the Nationalist political cause that appears to exceed the strict code which governs how officials support the administration.”

Mr Rennie said he had become concerned by the “tone” of many official communications, saying “partiality” had become “commonplace”.

Writing to Sir Gus, the Lib Dem leader said: “It is Sir Peter’s remarks on the Scotland Bill which cause immediate concern.

“The bill is most certainly not lost in the mists of time. The Scotland Bill is the biggest transfer of fiscal power to Scotland in 300 years. It is a complicated piece of legislation which is occupying the working lives of your civil service colleagues and parliamentarians across the UK.

“To dismiss this legislation in this way is simply to foster an attitude of disrespect and a lack of professionalism.”

Mr Rennie also claimed the “values” of the civil service code were “being ignored”, citing a clause that reads: “Impartiality is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions.”

He also drew Sir Gus’s attention to an extract from the code that commands civil servants to “always act in a way that is professional and that deserves and retains the confidence of all those with whom you have dealings”.

Mr Rennie went on: “It’s impossible to believe that any continuation of this behaviour from Sir Peter will do anything other than place an irrevocable barrier between himself and the political leaders who hope and intend to lead governments of a different hue in the future.

“I am unsure how any senior civil servant can be proud of the remarks that have been made and of the atmosphere of politicisation that has been created.”

The complaints were dismissed by the SNP, which released a statement in the name of Kenny Gibson, the SNP MSP for Cunninghame North.

“Iain Gray, Annabel Goldie and Willie Rennie must have lost the plot – who on earth is winding them up to raise such an absurd gripe?” he was quoted as saying.