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19 Jun 2008

A few words on Sir John Gieve

Sir Bonar writes

I’m saddened by the news that Sir John Gieve is being cast aside by the Bank of England. John is a dear friend. I thought he performed splendidly at the highest levels of the Civil Service. “Fit for purpose” are the words that spring to mind. I was particularly impressed with his crisp dealing with those LSE troublemakers and their smug campaign against our ID System. Quick as a flash, John dashed off a sharp letter to Howard Davies at the LSE. That largely shut them up, as I recall. The steady progress of our original plans, of course, continues to prove that we were right and their politically-motivated “research” was quite wrong.

I thought the NAO criticism of the Home Office’s financial management under John’s tenure was unwarranted. Poor old John Bourn was rather past it by then of course, and not without his own peccadilloes (as our leaks to Private Eye were able to tell the world). People simply do not realise quite what a complex organisation the Home Office is. It has terribly important work to do. To require it to spend all its time bean-counting would be indefensible. And why, in John’s immortal phrase, should be try to defend the indefensible?

All in all, a sad day for high-flying generalists. Our value is all too often underestimated, not just in the outside world but increasingly, I’m sorry to say, in Whitehall itself.

• Posted by Sir Bonar Neville-Kingdom GCMG KCVO on 19/06/08 at 7:01am
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