Cabinet office policy applies to foreigners coming to the department to take part in ‘learning and development’ events. Managers are urged to carefully check the background of such visitors, including looking for positions up to five years old, according to a Financial Times article. The report said allies of Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said the due diligence policy, which came into effect this week, was “very sensible” and should be implemented immediately as “there have been too many many examples recently where essentially extremist speakers have been invited to speak to civil servants and staff networks’. Start your day with the top stories from the US, plus the day’s must-reads from across the Guardian Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, criticized the new rules for providing “a draconian excuse to prevent critics of government policy from even setting foot in the buildings of Whitehall”. He added: “Instead of seeking to silence perfectly legitimate criticism of their litany of failures, ministers could do with listening to the experts a little more and burying their heads in the sand a little less. By listening they might learn something about dealing with the dysfunction that has built up at the heart of this Conservative government.” The Cabinet Office said speakers would not be automatically banned if they had previously posted comments critical of the government and would be considered on a case-by-case basis. He defended the vetting process on grounds of impartiality. The checks include trawling between three and five years of posts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn to look for “potentially problematic or controversial material that may conflict with public service values,” including criticism of government officials or policy; of strong political views and “behavior likely to bring the public service into disrepute”. The Cabinet Office said the policy had been “introduced to ensure that there is an appropriate process for inviting speakers to speak to public servants in the Cabinet Office, as the public rightly expect”. “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,” he added.
