servant

“Yes, deputy prime minister,” a civil servant explained: “It is an automatic device to control the internal temperature.”

The commission's report said there was "no bar on individuals who have previously worked for political parties or made political donations becoming civil servants".

These may be extreme examples, but the lesson here is that positioning science as the servant of ideology is perilous.

The Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, the country’s most senior civil servant, had told all ministers they should “not take part in the public debate.”

“The reality is you can’t get anything done without good civil servants,” she said.