Leatherhead Matters

Civil Serf, the 33 year old, Civil Service blogger has been outed. She is a middle manager in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Based on her “insider” disclosures of incompetence in Whitehall her blog was a must read for anyone interested in how New Labour’s Whitehall now operates. She called Gordon Brown “Velcro Brown” because bad stories stuck to him (in contrast to Blair’s reputation as “Teflon Tony”). She described her working world in the DWP as “pointless and doomed”.

Civil Serf was summoned to a meeting last week, when she was told she was being suspended. She was caught after a dedicated a team of computer experts to tracked her down across the internet. Wonder if any laws were broken in this surveillance process? Her blog has been removed, without a trace from the internet.

A source in the DWP told the Daily Mail that the investigation team “was told to clear their desks of everything except their hunt for Civil Serf“.

A DWP spokesman said: “All civil servants are expected to abide by a code of conduct”. However, it is possible that Civil Serf has not committed any serious infringement of the Civil Service code of practice A spokesman  said: “We are investigating whether there has been any breach”.  It has also been announced that the Cabinet Office will issue revised guidelines to civil servants to  cover employee blogging or comments left on online social networks such as Facebook.

Hmm …..I feel a resignation and a book contract & a round of TV interviews may be in the offing! No doubt the book would be a best seller since, it wouldn’t be a “Dodgy Dossier” but, a real insider expose of Civil Service life under New Labour. Be afraid Gordon…be very afraid!