Ex-Foreign Office chief Lord McDonald told colleagues he voted to stay in the EU
Ex-Foreign Office chief Lord McDonald told colleagues he voted to stay in the EU
Lord McDonald tells a new BBC documentary series there was a sense of "mourning" in his department.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Former Foreign Office chief Lord McDonald has revealed he told ministers and colleagues he voted to stay in the EU in the wake of Brexit.
Asked why he took this unprecedented step, Lord McDonald, who was in charge at the Foreign Office from 2015-2020, says: "I felt they would assume that in any case.
The civil service code that governs officials' behaviour states that staff are expected to provide impartial advice to ministers and not express their own political preferences.
Lord McDonald says there was a sense of "mourning" and staff in tears in the Foreign Office on the morning after the referendum result.
In her first ever interview, in the same documentary, the former deputy Cabinet secretary, Helen MacNamara, says in response to Lord McDonald's decision: "Wow… I don't know why that would be a good or helpful thing."
Lord McDonald's comments are likely to anger Conservative Brexiteers who have repeatedly accused top civil servants of dragging their feet during the process of leaving the EU.
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So? a third of right wingers voted to remain, same as a third of left wingers voted to leave.
Think the numbers were higher among politicians.
Remember remain was the tory policy. ERG was a fairly small proportion of them at the time.
Shout out to the 5% of UKIPpers who voted to remain