New Cabinet Office rules introduced last week also urge managers to scrutinize the profiles of visitors attending “learning and development” events, including for criticism of government policy. The new vetting process involves looking at posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn from the last three to five years to find “potentially problematic or controversial material that may breach public service values”. Allies of Mr Rees-Mogg, the government’s Brexit opportunity and efficiency minister, hailed the “very sensible” new measures. A colleague told the Financial Times: “There have been too many examples recently where essentially extremist speakers have been invited to address civil servants and staff networks.”
Prof. Priyamvada Gopal was not invited
Directors are also expected to look for any content that betrays “strong political bias” or could damage the public service’s reputation if a particular person is invited to an event. Professor Priyamvada Gopal, a left-wing academic at Cambridge University, was banned from a speech at the Home Office in October over comments she made about Priti Patel on Twitter. Professor Gopal wrote of the Home Secretary, whose parents fled Rwanda in the 1960s: “Priti Patel is also a reminder that many Asians in British Africa had fierce anti-black attitudes and were used by colonial administrations to keep black populations in their place. An attitude in which it brings [the] Government.” Afua Hirsch, the author and broadcaster, addressed Home Office officials during an online lecture, despite publicly accusing Boris Johnson of making “a litany of racist remarks” and saying: “His stupidity is part of the election brand of Boris Johnson”. Last year, the Telegraph revealed that civil servants had been warned not to invite people who had “spoken out against key government policies” and told to carry out “due diligence” checks on speakers.
Tweet against Boris Johnson
There was embarrassment for the government in June when a series of tweets against Boris Johnson emerged from David Buttress, just hours after he was appointed as the new cost of living czar. Mr Buttress had called on Johnson to resign over ‘partygate’, writing: ‘Why do the worst people often rise to the highest office and stay there? Boris has to go, he just has to.” The Cabinet Office said in a statement that its new policy “will ensure that there is a proper process for inviting speakers to speak to public servants in the Cabinet Office, as the public rightly expects”. He added: “We take a zero-tolerance approach to discriminatory behavior and this process will help prevent anyone with a history of such comments from being invited.”
