Mr Johnson also joined the controversy, telling the Daily Mail: “We need to get back into the habit of going into the office. I believe that people are more productive, more energetic, more full of ideas when they are surrounded by other people.
My experience from work at home is that you spend an awful lot of time making another cup of coffee, and then you know, you get up, walk very slowly to the fridge, cut a little piece of cheese, and then walk very slowly back to your laptop and then forget what you’re doing. “
This is because government officials in the new London City Hall have been told to spend only two days a week in the office, as this “improves productivity and well-being”.
The new building, Crystal, has enough space for 215 offices – although it employs 408 people. A team of 90 civil servants was told to apply for one of the nine hotlines if employees wanted to work from the office, according to a note.
An analysis by The Telegraph suggests that the highest percentage increase in civil servants is in the cabinet, Mr Rees-Mogg’s own department. It has seen a fivefold increase in staff, from 2,000 to more than 10,000, in five years. Mr Rees-Mogg said the cabinet had suffered from “duplication” of people’s jobs.
On Friday, unions lined up to warn of industrial action over planned job cuts. Mark Servotka, secretary general of the Union of Public and Commercial Services, said: “The government is complaining about longer delays for passports and driver’s licenses, while firing people who work so hard to clear the gap.
“Our members will not be scapegoats for a failing government – national strikes are on the table.”
Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, said: “The government needs to stop chasing headlines to divert attention from its failure to tackle the cost of living crisis facing workers in all sectors of the economy.
“We will talk to our members about the upcoming campaign to preserve their jobs and protect the services that society relies on.”
“Troubled” news for civil servants
Senior government officials also opposed learning about the catch from the media.
Jim Hara, permanent secretary of HM Revenue and Customs, said in a statement to staff that he “regrets that you learned this from the media and not from me or government officials.”
Abby Tierney, director general of the besieged Passport Office, said in a joint statement: “We are aware that the reports come amid recent media attacks on the civil service. They are not new, but they are a little more common at the moment. We want to remind you to try to turn off this noise if you can. “
In a statement to Home Office civil servants, Matthew Rycroft, the department’s permanent secretary, said the news was “alarming” for civil servants.
“There are few additional details at this stage, but we certainly understand that this will be disturbing news for the people in the department and the wider civil service who are working with great professionalism and commitment on the most important and challenging issues of our time.” he said,
This comes after Mr Rycroft had previously opposed the government’s priorities for civil service reform.
Last month, he said homework had “exactly zero attitude” to serious gaps in the passport office.
A senior Interior Ministry official also warned his boss, Priti Patel, the interior minister, that the policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda lacked “enough evidence” to demonstrate the benefits of the scheme.
Mr Rees-Mogg also suggested that arm-length bodies, such as quangos, could also be subjected to swinging cuts.
Mr Johnson told cabinet colleagues on Thursday that they had a month to come up with plans to weaken their own departments.
A source told The Telegraph that any cuts would “take advantage of the natural low tide, which will reduce the number voluntarily.”
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