Should a new government be able to replace senior civil servants with its own appointees?
Senior civil servants in the UK must be appointed on merit through fair and open competition under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Only special advisers, who are temporary and politically appointed, are exempt, and their posts end with the government that appointed them. Ministers cannot formally dismiss permanent secretaries, but several have been forced out, including Tom Scholar in 2022. Reform UK was reported in March 2026 to plan replacing the top civil servants in every department with people more likely to deliver its priorities.
4 Opinions
If a government wants loyalists to push its mandate, that is exactly what temporary Special Advisers are for. Politicising the permanent civil service and ditching merit-based appointments turns the state into a partisan clown show.
This is a great idea. They already have special advisors (SPADS), but putting them into the system, with direct reports obliged to report to them under the Civil Service Code of Conduct, could really work.
Look at how Trump has hollowed out the American civil service and replaced experienced people with pilloew salesmen and the like. Our civil servioce is very far from perfect but it does have experience - vital when ministers keep getting reshuffled from one portfolio to the next. And it helps prevent slides towards extremism or silly populism
Loyalists are not the solution for Slowpokes. Wait, there are whole chapters on this in the history books. There is a long chapter being written right now. ⭐️ Edited