JACOB Rees-Mogg has been accused of being “supremely passive aggressive” after a note he has been leaving on civil servants desks was shared on Twitter.
The Brexit Opportunities Minister, who was also handed government efficiency as part of his brief, previously said he wants to cut as many as 65,000 civil servants from the government payroll.
However, even such sweeping cuts would not return the civil service's headcount to pre-Brexit levels.
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Ostensibly as part of efforts to improve government efficiency, Rees-Mogg has been leading a crackdown on civil servants working from home.
He has reportedly been going around the desks at Whitehall and leaving notes at the workplaces of civil servants who were absent.
The note reads: “Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon. Wish every good wish.”
After the note was shared on social media, it was criticised strongly by opposition MPs.
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP for Rhondda, wrote: “What a nasty patronising man he is.”
What a nasty patronising man he is. https://t.co/InGNYTTUVF
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) April 22, 2022
His Labour colleague, Sarah Jones MP, added: “One of the advantages of having a marginal constituency seat is that I hope I would never have the time to be this supremely passive aggressive.”
National contributor Richard Murphy said Rees-Mogg was showing “what workplace bullying looks like”.
SNP MP Anum Qaisar said the Tory was “giving off mean girl vibes”, referencing the classic Lindsay Lohan movie.
There were around 384,000 civil servants working for the UK’s governments just before the 2016 EU referendum, but that number has risen consistently since then.
In September 2019, there were 419,120 full-time civil servants, with the number having risen every quarter since the Leave vote. The Department for Exiting the European Union had 40% staff turnover in 2019.
By September 2020, with pandemic pressures as well as Brexit affecting staffing requirements, there were 430,750 full-time civil servants.
The most recent figures, from September 2021, show there were 472,700 civil servants working for the UK Government. As such, even if Rees-Mogg were to slash 65,000 jobs, there would still be more than 20,000 civil servants than there were before the Brexit vote.
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