Civil Servant blogging days may be numbered
A cheeky female civil servant blogger, who has been ridiculing Cabinet members including Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, and taking the mickey out of civil service mandarins, right up to Cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell, appears to have gone to ground after the Sunday Times reported that the hunt for her was on in Whitehall. Her blog, The Civil Serf, has been swiftly taken down.
The Serf, who has been blogging with impunity for four months, claimed to be a 33-year-old who was "just senior enough" in her department to allow her to know what's going on though "not senior enough to attract suspicion".
In a recent blog, she claimed that Alistair Darling was desperate to use his first Budget, coming up on Wednesday, to garner "a cheap headline" even if it meant announcing unaffordable new measures. "High up on the list will be both child poverty and incapability benefit," she wrote.
She nicknames Gordon Brown 'Velcro' because of the many negative stories that have stuck to him. But she reserves her sharpest barbs for Whitehall culture and personnel. "I've received a meeting request that probably deserves a mention in the Guinness Book of Records," she writes. "It is for something called the 'People Action Team' (don't ask) and it is scheduled to last a staggering seven hours... Truly there is no God."
She has also complained about drunken advances from the opposite sex. "Trapped" at a conference in Brighton, she wrote, "I was being chased about by some bloke from the Foreign Office who wouldn't listen to me saying I'm engaged - yuk!"
She also tells how her colleagues are frequently "under-utilised", saying: "I know two people within eight desks of me whose jobs could be deleted overnight with no discernible impact on our performance."
Because of various mentions of Peter Hain before he stood down as Work and Pensions Secretary, it is thought the culprit may work in that department. A source told the Sunday Times that while no one has yet been disciplined, there were suspicions about the blogger's identity.
Update 10 March 2008, 16:39
- Civil servants to get blog and social networking advice (BBC link)
- There's a curious comment on this post that suggests, "The first civil servant blogger to be sacked was in Wales, however, no one knows his/her name."
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15 comments:
Sounds like a fascinating blog to me!
The first civil servant blogger to be sacked was in Wales, however, no one knows his/her name.
You can't be talking about Marcus Warner as he worked for an Assembly Member as a researcher.
What are the rumours?
Anon 09:23 'The first civil servant blogger to be sacked was in Wales, however, no one knows his/her name.'
Send us an email if you hear any rumours and we'll write a post.
You're in the know. Who's the sacked Welsh civil servant blogger?
"You can't be talking about Marcus Warner as he worked for an Assembly Member as a researcher."
Alas, i am many things, but not a civil servant.
if the civil service and spads can't blog then Normal Mouth better watch out!
Can't see Normal Mouth as a civil servant.
Can't be Arsembly or Seneddwr as they worked down the bay.
Knowing who NM is, he certainly isn't a SPAD, or indeed a civil servant.
"Can't be Arsembly or Seneddwr as they worked down the bay."
the same person, who works out of the 'dark horse' for the Labour Leadership's office.
Quite simply appalling. Thefre are precedents being set at this time and they're not good.
"Knowing who NM is, he certainly isn't a SPAD, or indeed a civil servant"
Marcus doth protest too much i think!
"Marcus doth protest too much i think!"
Nah Marcus doth knows the bloody facts chico.
This civil servant is in Whitehall and has been the subect of several of the English Blogs for quite a while, look at Ian Dale and Guido they are just two.The blog was deleted on Sunday after the Times went on a hunt for him/her. The speculation is that its a man, not a woman and could be a spin doctor from one of the parties other than Labour.
Bloggers in the Bay - I dont think that Civil Sevants down there would be silly enough to blog at work,may be from home though. Any way most of those who would have any insight have either left or are leaving.
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