Civil servants have been told they will have to “do things differently” by their new boss, the cabinet secretary, on his first day in the job. Sir Chris Wormald has promised a “rewiring of the way the government works”, in a message to half a million civil servants. Sir Chris, who previously ran the departments for health and education, has taken charge of the civil service less than two weeks after Sir Keir Starmer claimed “too many” officials were “comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline”. The FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, has accused the new government of taking an “astonishing” and “really damaging” approach. Labour officials entering government for the first time have privately complained that the Whitehall machine is bloated and outdated. But FDA general secretary Dave Penman said civil servants “feel a sense of betrayal” by the prime minister. In his all-staff message, Sir Chris said he was “deeply honoured” to take up his new job, adding it was his role “to support the prime minister and government to deliver for the country”.
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