Why the government's civil war with the civil service matters
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2026
⏱️ 17 minutes
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Summary
Sir Keir Starmer's relationship with the civil service has broken down following the sacking of Sir Olly Robbins.
The former top civil servant at the Foreign Office told parliament there was a "dismissive approach" to security vetting from No 10, but the prime minister maintains it was Robbins who made "an error of judgement".
So, what's at stake when the inner workings of government grind to a halt?
Lord Peter Ricketts, who is also a former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, joins Niall to discuss what happens when things go wrong and whether Starmer can repair relations with the civil servants who deliver his mandate, before it's too late.
Have you got a question for Niall? Email the show: why@sky.uk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sky News, the full story first. |
| 0:11.5 | Kirstarmes Civil War with the Civil Service matters to you, and we're heading back to politics today, because when it comes to government, we are told the system is pretty straightforward. |
| 0:38.9 | Politicians decide civil servants deliver. But if that's true, why is it so hard to work out |
| 0:45.4 | who's responsible when things ultimately go wrong? Many members across the House will find these |
| 0:50.7 | facts to be incredible. Well, today we have been hearing from the top civil servant at the foreign office that the PM |
| 0:57.5 | binned late last week. And Ollie Robbins told MPs exactly how Peter Mandelson was appointed |
| 1:03.1 | US ambassador. The focus was on getting Mandelson out to Washington quickly. Despite this |
| 1:09.3 | atmosphere, an atmosphere of pressure, the department completed developed |
| 1:14.5 | vetting to the normal high standard. So right now our politicians are at complete |
| 1:19.7 | loggerheads with the civil service. And that never tends to end well, as pointed out by Harriet |
| 1:25.2 | Harmon in an emergency edition of our political podcast, |
| 1:28.7 | Electoral Dysfunction. What's happened is that he's kind of gone nuclear with firing |
| 1:34.4 | Ollie Robbins and created now a big kind of war with the civil service. And the truth is, |
| 1:40.9 | when a government is at war with the civil service, nobody wins. So today we're going to ask a couple of very simple questions. |
| 1:47.2 | How does government actually work? And when it doesn't, who's to blame? |
| 1:52.0 | Lord Ricketts has served in a number of roles across government, including permanent secretary |
| 1:55.7 | at the foreign office, national security advisor and our ambassador to France. |
| 2:01.1 | Peter, lovely to have you back on the podcast again. |
| 2:03.9 | Straightforward question to start with. |
| 2:05.7 | When we say the government in inverted commas, who are we referring to? |
| 2:10.9 | Well, normally we are referring to ministers when you say that because they are the |
| 2:15.6 | political leaders of the government. |
... |
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