Braverman may have broken ministerial code with ‘attack’ on civil servants – FDA

The Home Secretary has been accused of questioning the ‘integrity and impartiality’ of Home Office civil servants in remarks to Tory members.

The Prime Minister has been asked to consider whether Home Secretary Suella Braverman breached the ministerial code in comments made to Tory members (Leon Neal/PA) (PA Wire)

The Home Secretary may have broken ministerial rules after launching a “direct attack on the impartiality” of civil servants, a union chief has told the Prime Minister.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, has written to Rishi Sunak to raise comments said to have been made by Suella Braverman in an email to Conservative Party members following the publication of the Illegal Migration Bill.

The legislation is designed to toughen asylum rules and deter migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats.

Mr Penman said the Home Secretary had told party members on Tuesday that “an activist blob of left-wing lawyers, civil servants and the Labour Party blocked us” from previously dealing with people unlawfully coming to Britain.

The boss of the FDA, a union representing senior civil servants, said the statement was “factually incorrect” and amounted to a “direct attack on the integrity and impartiality” of those public servants working for Ms Braverman in the Home Office.

He raised the possibility that Ms Braverman had broken the ministerial code, the rules which govern behaviour of those on the Government front bench.

Mr Penman told the Prime Minister: “I am sure I do not need to remind you that paragraph 5.1 of the ministerial code states that ‘ministers must uphold the political impartiality of the civil service’.

“I cannot see how the Home Secretary’s statement to Conservative Party members can be reconciled with her obligations under the code.”

The union chief called for Mr Sunak to ensure the “statement is publicly withdrawn as a matter of urgency” and that Ms Braverman apologises to staff.

Breaching the ministerial code has traditionally been a resignation matter, although Boris Johnson watered down the rules during his premiership so more minor breaches could be punished with alternative sanctions.

While serving as Home Secretary in October during Liz Truss’s short reign as prime minister, Ms Braverman was forced to resign over security failings relating to a private email.

However, she was reappointed six days later when Mr Sunak entered No 10.

Mr Penman, in correspondence shared on Twitter on Wednesday, told the Prime Minister that Ms Braverman’s alleged comments to the Tory faithful was “an extraordinary statement from a serving Home Secretary”.

He added: “As you and the Home Secretary are well aware, civil servants advise and ministers decide.

“Once a decision is made, civil servants are tasked with carrying out the settled will of government.

“Not only is this statement factually incorrect, but the tone of that paragraph and the brigading of civil servants with the Labour Party and ‘left-wing lawyers’ is a direct attack on the integrity and impartiality of the thousands of civil servants who loyally serve the Home Secretary, doing some of the most complex and difficult work in government.

“This cowardly attack on civil servants, whom the Home Secretary knows are unable to publicly defend themselves, also risks further stoking tensions over a matter which has previously resulted in violent clashes with protesters.

“Staff at 2 Marsham Street (the Home Office) have already been advised about security precautions to avoid being identified.”