Apr 9, 2021Episode 13: Farewell Sir HumphreyIt was around this time that I, too, began to become unwell and had to take some time away from Sir Humphrey. One of the most insidious things about mental illness is its slow, creeping nature and looking back I can now see the traces of its presence snaking back…9 min read9 min read
Apr 9, 2021Episode 12: Sir Humphrey says goodbyeOn a grey and still mid summer’s afternoon in 2019, I joined hundreds of civil servants and politicians milling solemnly outside Westminster Abbey ahead of the memorial service for the late Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, who died in October 2018 at the tragically young age of 56. Quite how…3 min read3 min read
Apr 9, 2021Episode 11: Sir Humphrey rebootedYet if political change, as we’ve seen, is a constant in civil service life, how well has the organisation responded to the wider social, technological and cultural transformations we’ve seen over the last few decades? Has Sir Humphrey really had a 21st century makeover? And if so, to what end? …6 min read6 min read
Feb 12, 2021Episode 10: Sir Humphrey is changingWhat happened the last time your boss left their job? Perhaps it happened quickly, or perhaps it was coming for a while, elongated by a long notice period in which their power and influence slowly ebbed away. Perhaps you staged them a nice leaving ceremony on their last day…8 min read8 min read
Feb 12, 2021Episode 9: Sir Humphrey meets the OthersSo there are the good guys of Whitehall — and then of course there are the Others. The Arseholes. The Reptiles. The Sex Pests. The Tyrants. Power is no guarantor of integrity, often quite the opposite, and it is civil servants who have to manage and endure the direct…7 min read7 min read
Feb 12, 2021Episode 8: Sir Humphrey makes friendsFor good or bad, many civil servants are in close personal contact with senior politicians from the earliest stages of their civil service career. This is often a great privilege, sometimes it’s a bit of a slog. Occasionally it can be downright unpleasant. The great Muhammad Ali once said he…7 min read7 min read
Jan 25, 2021Episode 7: Sir Humphrey and a brush with royaltyIf the Olympics ended up being a bit of a phoney war in terms of managing a would-be crisis, there were others along the way that were very real, and potentially very deadly. I was still a young speechwriter in 2008 when I’d started working for Andy Burnham during the…4 min read4 min read
Jan 25, 2021Episode 6: Sir Humphrey prepares for the worstAt the sharp end of public policy, the civil service is full of serious people making serious decisions — many of them with life-or-death consequences. …6 min read6 min read
Jan 24, 2021Episode 5: Sir Humphrey and the celebritiesConsorting with celebrity is, of course, one of the great weaknesses of the modern politician. No matter how high their star ascends, most can’t escape the reality that they were hideously unpopular and uncool in their youth. Landing a genuine A-lister pal is their form of redemption. …3 min read3 min read
Jan 24, 2021Episode 4: Sir Humphrey’s Games“What did you do at work today?” Most of the time for the career civil servant, the answer is humdrum and oblique — but occasionally, just occasionally, Sir Humphrey is let off his leash and the fireworks fly. One of the more surreal moments in my civil service career was…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
