Keir Starmer is right: the “paranoid” civil service does need change

Keir Starmer’s former advisor, Peter Hyman, calls for dramatic Whitehall reform.

Former Labour strategist and architect of the Labour missions, Peter Hyman, joins the New Statesman politics podcast to discuss Keir Starmer’s “plan for change” speech on Thursday.

Hyman, who served under both Tony Blair and Keir Starmer, discusses the difficulties Labour will face in implementing their missions and is scathing about Whitehall, saying resistance from staffers is stifling innovation.

“Three permanent secretaries I’ve heard in the last month have been resisting having outsiders come in to help,” he says.

“I don’t blame civil servants, particularly individual civil servants… What I do blame is the system. At the moment, there is a culture that is not geared towards innovation. It is geared to business as usual… a lot of civil servants are incredibly paranoid about taking any risks because they fear they’ll be called in front of a select committee.”