Under-fire mandarin wins GOD’s forgiveness

SCOTLAND’S senior civil servant has been exonerated by his UK boss after he was attacked by the leaders of all three opposition parties.

Sir Gus O’Donnell, the head of Britain’s civil service, said Sir Peter Housden had “not breached the civil service code”.

Labour’s Iain Gray, Conservative leader Annabel Goldie, and Willie Rennie, of the Liberal Democrats, accused the permanent secretary of having “gone native” after alleging he had promoted partisan SNP policies.

But Sir Gus – or GOD as he signs himself, using his initials – said it was the job of civil servants to “support the elected government of the day”.

He added: “Peter Housden’s reported comments were set within the context of an internal staff communication designed to stimulate engagement and, whilst the language is informal, it is explaining the views of Scottish ministers to staff and therefore, in this context, should not be seen as inconsistent with the civil service code.”

The row dates back to shortly after the May election, when 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.

He claimed that “Calman and the status quo now seem lost in the mists of time”, and even urged staff to see the play Dunsinane – a modern sequel to Macbeth that depicts an English army of occupation attempting to impose itself on Scotland.

The SNP said the opposition parties should now apologise to Sir Peter, but Ms Goldie has already written back to Sir Gus disputing his findings.

“It is clear to even the most dispassionate of readers that Sir Peter was promoting his personal opinions, and at no point did he mention that he was passing on the views of ministers,” she wrote.

“It is not ‘relevant support to ministers’ to suggest to civil servants that they spend their free time visiting a play about the occupation of Scotland in reference to speaking to ‘our present condition as a nation’.”

Labour peer Lord George Foulkes, who raised this issue in the House of Lords earlier this week, said: “As a former minister I can recognise Sir Humphrey- speak when I see it. Reading between the lines it’s pretty clear that Sir Peter has been shown a yellow card by his boss.

“Hopefully, he will take more care with his communications to Scotland’s civil service in future.”

And Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, added: “For all three party leaders to come together shows that we all have little confidence in the impartiality of the Scottish permanent secretary.

“Sir Peter has to prove he is independent of the ruling party, as governments often change and he has to have the ability to work within any political persuasion. So far Sir Peter has shattered the confidence of all opposition parties. He has got a lot of work to do to put that right.”

However, the SNP accused the opposition of “sour grapes”.

Senior whip Bill Kidd said: “To seek to politicise the work of the civil service is disgraceful.

“Goldie, Gray and Willie Rennie must apologise for their efforts to tarnish the reputations of independent civil servants.

“This is simply sour grapes from parties who are still struggling to accept that the people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly for a majority SNP government.”

Alex Salmond said: “Sir Gus O’Donnell’s letter sets out the obvious and common sense approach – it is the very essence of democracy that the civil service supports the policies of the elected government, and the SNP secured a resounding mandate from the people of Scotland in May for our programme.”

A Scottish Government spokesman added: “Sir Gus has also made clear in his letter that it is entirely appropriate for the permanent secretary to explain and contextualise government policy to staff.”