Sir Whitehall and a new settlement

19 November 2007

Subjects:

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I've just got round to reading Sue Cameron's FT column signaled by Ben Brogan and others, she writes:

“It’s nonsense to think of Brown as a principled man who wants a new constitutional settlement,” snorted one Whitehall knight. Over a light Italian lunch he revealed that there are even murmurings against the popular Sir Gus O’Donnell, cabinet secretary and head of the home civil service.

As so often with journalists she goes on about the 'personal story' of Gus O'D. The big story is that the knights understand a new settlement could be on the cards. Even if it isn't, it should be. What they think of it is also something we need to know.

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