European Political News

I’ve solved this problem. Let us make them follow the precedent of the Ministerial Code of Practice (pdf) introduced by the Blair-Brown government. And the ultimate authority for deciding whether the blogger broke the code should - following this Ministerial precedent - be the blogger themselves. And for any breach, an apology should suffice as remedy. Sorted. That’ll keep our Civil Service Ethical and Sleaze Free. Tags: gordon brown, tony blair, civil serf, ministerial code of ethics, guidelines for ministers, sleaze Previous in series

Tom Watson has picked up on my proposed Guidelines for Civil Servants: Matt Wardman has a different take on the issue. Hes saying theres no need for any guidelines. For Matt, the civil service code will suffice. Id be interested to know if current blogging civil servants think that code provides the clarity you need to blog sensibly without fear that youre doing something wrong. I’m arguing for a strongly minimalist approach: 99.9% of Civil Servants are sensible and professional people of integrity. Civil Serf is an exception in not behaving professionally. Exception control for the 0.1% in this case should be by disciplinary action of the 0.1% under the Civil Service Code, not by creating guidelines for the 99.9%. Blogging guidelines are only an unnecessary result of a need to be seen to take dynamic action. A multiplication of guidelines like rabbits will only serve to generate more boundary quarrels, and waste more time in argument about whether the letter of the guidelines has been breached or not. And then there will have to be a review of the guidelines to identify the weak points. And a policy commission to evaluate the results. And then there will be even more guidelines. And they will have to be put under version control, and distributed to all the Intranets etc etc etc sod it go to 5 and continue in circles. In summary - Ockhams Razor just shredded the guidelines. Or the need for them. Just follow the Civil Service Code. And there is a further debate going on in the comments. Involving blogging Civil Servants themselves is an excellent - nay essential - idea. (more…) Previous in series

Over at Tom Watson’s blog, there’s an article and a good conversation going on in the comments - concerning what guidance should be developed for Civil Servant bloggers. Tom suggests something short and sharp in 12 points: 1. Write as yourself 2. Own your own content 3. Be nice 4. Keep secrets 5. No anonymous comments 6. Remember the civil service code 7. Got a problem? Talk to your boss 8. Stop it if we say so 9. Be the authority in your specialist field " provide worthwhile information 10. Think about consequences 11. Media interest? Tell your boss 12. Correct your own mistakes Various commenters add things (which I’m numbering mainly sequentially, and of which I’m only quoting a portion): Shane 13. Be accurate - dont tell porkies. 14. Treat comments as part of your blog. Make sure they adhere to the guidelines s much as possible. (more…) Previous in series

The blogger Civil Serf first mentioned (to my knowledge) by Dizzy a couple of weeks ago is - according to Ellee Seymour - to be covered on Newsnight this evening. I got this via Twitter: More than 800 hits today thanks to civil servant post, the story is on newsnight tonight, michael crick has tried to find her. (That’s one thing it’s for, Mr Devil.) If you’ve been incommunicado for the last 36 hours, Ellee said yesterday: A civil servant who wrote an unflinching blog where she described her working life, the incompetences and inadequacies she regularly encountered, could now be in very hot water for publishing her views. The Civil Serf blog now seems to have been removed after it was highlighted in todays Sunday Times, with the headline: “Hunt is on for demon blogger of Whitehall,” while the Sunday Telegraph reported: “Blogger lifts lid on Whitehall failings”. Her blog is easy enough to find, and the Times even has a link to it. But the site shows an error message saying the page does not exist. Its obviously been pulled. Ellee’s article includes some quotes. It is snarky and - in my view - must surely be too close to the bone not to be a breach of contract. I stand by the comments I made on Ellee’s post on Sunday (edited slightly): I gave her six months when I first saw it. I think that civil servants cannot write critical blogs without being in violation of their contract (conduct bringing employer info disrepute etc.). If they do so, they must be bulletproof in their anonymity. Pulled on a Sunday implies that she may have pulled it herself. It is a dangerous game to play - especially in the political niche. Its always a tricky one - if you plan to avoid work in your writing they could still say no if you ask. I have to decide whether to blog about clients, and it somethgin I have thought quite carefully about, and I still dont know if I got the balance right. (Note: my policy is not to blog about current employers, and never to break a contract or confidentiality agreement - criminal activity notwithstanding). At this point it looks as though Civil Serf pulled her own blog, so she may get away with it. Tags: civil serf, anonymous blogging, dooced, blog about employer