BBCA union boss has accused the prime minister of using “Trumpian language” in his criticism of the civil service.
In a speech setting out his priorities for government on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer said “too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline”.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, said the PM’s comments were “astonishing” and “really damaging”.
He told BBC Newsnight civil servants “feel a sense of betrayal”.
“In the early days of this government, ministers were walking around departments saying, ‘we’re not going to be like the previous administration, we’ve got your back’,” he said.
“And yet here we are five months in with that Trumpian language that is getting used.”
Some senior government sources have told the BBC that Labour has been disappointed by the quality of the civil service since taking office in July.
But Mr Penman said that to achieve the government’s aims and reform public services “you need to bring [civil servants] with you”.
“Cabinet ministers are going to have to deliver on the ground and they’re going to have to work with civil servants and they’re going to have to repair the damage that’s been done by the prime minister’s words,” he added.
Mr Penman acknowledged Whitehall could be slow to get things done, and civil servants were also “frustrated” about this.
However, he said productivity had declined for many reasons, including a high turnover of ministers.
In his speech, Sir Keir set out six targets the government is aiming to meet before the next election, covering the economy, housebuilding, the NHS, policing, pre-school education and green energy.
As well as being designed to offer more clarity about the direction of his government, the speech had a secondary aim of galvanising the civil service.
The PM said the plan would “land on desks around Whitehall with the heavy thud of a gauntlet being thrown down”.
Echoing a phrase used by US-President elect Donald Trump, Sir Keir said: “I don’t think there is a swamp to be drained here but I do think that too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline, have forgotten to paraphrase JFK that you choose change not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”
