• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Kemi Badenoch Blames Activist Civil Servants and ‘Groupthink’ For Tavistock Scandal

by Toby Young
31 July 2022 7:00 AM

Kemi Badenoch, the MP who came fourth in the Conservative leadership election, has written a blistering comment piece in the Sunday Times blaming activist civil servants and cowardly ministers for the failure within Government to do something about the irreversible medical harm being done troubled adolescents by the Tavistock. She describes how officials in the Government Equalities Office tried to block her meeting with critics of the NHS clinic, including the LGB Alliance. Here’s how it begins:

Government ministers have difficult decisions to make, often between options where the best course of action is unclear. Some decisions, however, are simple. They are about right and wrong. Last week’s decision to shut the Tavistock clinic is one such example.

When I became equalities minister in early 2020, the NHS gender identity service (GIDS) for young people was presented to me by government officials as a positive medical provision to support children. I was assured that was there “nothing to see here”, if anything, the Tavistock was getting unfair press. This was despite whistleblowers like Dr David Bell already raising concerns about practices at the clinic.

Children and their welfare should be a priority of any government. After receiving correspondence on the matter I decided to listen to every perspective on the issue of those experiencing gender distress to prepare future policy. I noticed officials seemed to be consulting the same people and previous ministers had created an LGBT advisory panel that was clearly suffering from groupthink.

I insisted on meeting campaigners on both sides of the debate: not just Stonewall but, to the horror of some officials, the LGB Alliance. I met clinicians and, most importantly, I asked to meet young people who had used the Tavistock’s services.

One such young person was Keira Bell. To my surprise, I was advised strongly and repeatedly by civil servants in the department that it would be “inappropriate” to speak to her. I overruled the advice. Along with other advisers across government I met Keira and listened to what she had to say. Her testimony was harrowing and brought many on the Zoom call to tears. Keira described how, after being put on puberty blockers at the age of 16, she was given testosterone shots at 17, before her breasts were cut off at 20. Worse was the casual indifference she described from the GIDS service to her continued post-surgery wellbeing.

There are two types of ministers — those who assume that officials know best and follow their advice unquestioningly, becoming spokespeople rather than decision-makers — and those who don’t.

The government machine wants to be comfortable and consensual and campaigners and activists know how to take advantage of this. A minister asking tricky questions can be stopped in their tracks by accusations of stoking “culture wars”. Minutes of private meetings with whistleblowers and concerned citizens can be selectively leaked or become the subject of numerous innocent-looking freedom of information requests, designed to identify targets for harassment on social media, as I discovered in one unfortunate case.

Whitehall has solutions for ministers wishing to dodge difficult decisions: issue another call for evidence for information you already have; publish a consultation that is captured by campaigners or form a new working group of “stakeholders”. However, the work of government is all about making difficult decisions, even if it makes us unpopular.

I write not to take credit for this result — my part in it was very minor — but to give an insight into the numerous obstacles that slow down even the most determined minister from finding out the truth and making the right decisions.

A courageous and important piece by Kemi. Worth reading in full.

Stop Press: The Mail On Sunday has an interview with Keira Bell, the young woman who blew the whistle on the Tavistock and helped persuade Kemi it should be shut down.

Tags: Keira BellKemi BadenochThe TavistockWhitehall

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

News Round-Up

Next Post

BBC Criticised For Allowing 50/50 Female Quota to be Filled by Transgender Guests

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

21 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago

Confirms what we knew already. The Civil Service runs the country how it sees fit, and the Government is just window dressing.

113
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

I’m sure the Civil Service tries to run it as it see fit, or some of them at least, but we’ve had TWELVE years of Conservative governments. What have those governments done to push back?

63
-1
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

I fear you’re hoping rather too much that a Minister and their team can cut though the work of thousands of CS determined to stymie progress. As we have seen with the Home Office and Rwanda, if by good fortune, something does get done, the Unions are there to pick up the tab for the court cases to stop it happening. Its the deep state at work…

48
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

I’m not hoping for anything, or expecting anything – just pointing out that voting Conservative doesn’t appear to have conservative results, IMO because the senior leadership of the Tory party and a substantial number of MPs are metropolitan left wing big state “liberals” who are out of touch with or despise their core supporters.

41
0
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Yeah, I’d agree with that. Add in the influence of supranational forces like the WEF and UN and Agenda 2030, and thats pretty much it

32
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

Indeed
There’s a general trend “leftward” it seems to me, but it is being hugely accelerated by the kind of organisations you mention and many sheeple are only going to notice when it’s too late

17
0
oblong
oblong
2 years ago

So it appears that Children and their welfare should be a priority of any government.
ive not seen much of that over last two years.
throw childrens future health on the scrap heap for the sake of liberal ideology. We are at the mercy of the f ING dogooders

74
-1
NickR
NickR
2 years ago

There is a fine line between FGM and gender reassignment surgery.

60
0
debra
debra
2 years ago
Reply to  NickR

No line.. just the same brutal attack on an innocent. 😒

3
0
RTSC
RTSC
2 years ago

All this does is confirm what we already know: the Civil Service is institutionally left-wing, suffers from group-think, works to block Minister’s policies it doesn’t support and therefore needs a complete clear out.

The problem we have is that the CONs won’t do it.

59
0
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago
Reply to  RTSC

We have another problem. What do we do with the brainwashed tens of thousands when we’ve got rid of them.? Inflict them on private companies..? Or will they just find gainful employment from the public purse, buggering up something else. This may take two generations to fix, if we can fix it at all.

Remind me. Communism in the Soviet Union lasted how long, and there’s still a sizeable rump who look at the time with romantic eyes and a sense of nostalgia.

26
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

There are already plenty of senior and middle managers in the private sector who are pursuing the woke agenda with equal vigour.

15
0
DevonBlueBoy
DevonBlueBoy
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

That is for their employers to accept or otherwise. Consumers have the choice to use or not their products and services. And there is mounting evidence of “Go woke, go broke”
However, we have no choice in our dealings with slither serpents.

6
0
DevonBlueBoy
DevonBlueBoy
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

As always, those who benefit most from the exercise of power want it to continue. Quelle surprise.

2
0
debra
debra
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

They could become our WEF quota of “useless eaters” They could then be shipped off into the glorious future designed for such a class of humanity and save us the rest of us a lot of heartache.

0
0
thelightcavalry
thelightcavalry
2 years ago

Boris and Carrie Johnson should hang their heads in shame.

Nikki da Costa, Johnson’s former director of legislative affairs, told The Times that a group of aides who supported the controversial LGBT rights group were giving the PM ‘skewed’ advice that she believed was undermining women’s rights.

Da Costa who stood down in August said: ”There is no other organisation — no business, or charity, no matter how big — that can pick up the phone to a special adviser sitting outside Boris Johnson’s office and get that person to speak directly to the prime minister.

‘But that is the kind of access that Stonewall has’.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10197907/Boris-Johnsons-advisors-letting-Stonewall-dictate-government-trans-policy-ex-aide-warns.html

11
0
RJBassett
RJBassett
2 years ago

“Yes Minister” portrayed what we all suspected was the case in government in the 1970’s and 1980’s that the government was run for the benefit of the civil servants. The show was good for some rueful laughs but the case of Keira Bell demonstrates it’s not funny anymore..

On trans issues, critical race theory, net zero, trade policy, inflation, government spending, the operations of the NHS and education blobs, it is clear that the civil service has now become the enemy of the people.

Last edited 2 years ago by RJBassett
10
0
Gefion
Gefion
2 years ago

Kemi said she couldn’t have done it without the backing, support etc of Liz Truss, Matt Hancock, Sahid Javid etc. Very diplomatic with an eye to the future…

2
0
Epi
Epi
2 years ago

Sir Humphrey rules!!!

1
0
DomH75
DomH75
2 years ago

Here lies the fundamental problem with the British Civil Service: it’s an entrenched organisation where failure is rewarded with a move to a different department and is easily infiltrated by the far left through the fast stream system.
It’s ludicrous that an incoming government is appointed Civil Service secretaries and the like by the Civil Service itself. Why shouldn’t an incoming government appoint its own people? An outgoing Labour government’s Civil Service should be cleared out and replaced by a Tory one when the Tories get into power. The Government should appoint its own heads of department and hire its own people to run each streamlined division. That way, a government’s agenda can be pursued and that government is responsible for the success or failure of its manifesto.
The British Civil Service is plainly inefficient and corrupt. Prior to March 2020, a friend who worked in the Home Office told me that on an average day at least one third of staff is always absent due to leave, ‘sickness’ and ‘duvet days’ and more are offline while ‘working from home’.
Plainly, the Civil Service needs reform: how many taxes exist that purely fund the department that oversees that particular tax, for example?
The far left, postmodern, groupthink is deeply worrying. Postmodernism denies objective reality: if the people running the Civil Service are living in a subjective, imagined world and pretending that that world exists, no wonder we’ve had things like lockdowns and climate mania when the empirical evidence denies their world view. No wonder Civil Servants allowed the butchery of children to take place in the Tavistock Clinic when they won’t say what a woman is anymore.
There are two sexes: male and female. There are three genders – masculine, feminine and neuter (he, she and it) – in language. Everything else is the deranged, reality-denying rantings of delusional, far left academics.

Last edited 2 years ago by DomH75
5
0
Smudger
Smudger
2 years ago

The views espoused by those climbing the career Tory party ladder have no bearing whatsoever on the views and actions taken when high office is achieved. Boris Johnson is perfect example of the latest person to play to the centre Right party faithful and head off in the opposite direction when party leader

1
0

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

The Sceptic | Episode 38: Chris Bayliss on the Commonwealth Voting Scandal, Sarah Phillimore on the Bar’s Scrapped EDI Plans and Eugyppius on ‘White Genocide’

by Richard Eldred
30 May 2025
1

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

30 May 2025
by Toby Young

There Will Be No Climate Catastrophe: MIT Professor Dr Richard Lindzen

29 May 2025
by Hannes Sarv

Comedian’s Show Cancelled Over Liverpool Parade Crash Joke

30 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

BBC ‘Damages Countryside’ to Film Chris Packham’s Springwatch

30 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

German Pensioner Receives 75-Day Prison Sentence in Latest Speech Crime Scandal to Hit the Federal Republic

29 May 2025
by Eugyppius

Comedian’s Show Cancelled Over Liverpool Parade Crash Joke

38

News Round-Up

33

Miliband Attacks Blair Over Net Zero Criticism and Admits He Could Lose Seat to Reform

19

BBC ‘Damages Countryside’ to Film Chris Packham’s Springwatch

14

Electric Cars Halve in Value After Just Two Years

13

Are Schools Actually Institutionalised Childcare?

30 May 2025
by Joanna Gray

Trump is Handing Africa to the Chinese for the Sake of Social Media Clout

29 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Hooked on Freedom: Why Medical Autonomy Matters

29 May 2025
by Dr David Bell

So Renters WILL Pay the Costs of Net Zero

29 May 2025
by Ben Pile

The Net Zero Agenda’s Continued Collapse Into Chaos

28 May 2025
by Ben Pile

POSTS BY DATE

July 2022
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jun   Aug »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

July 2022
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jun   Aug »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

30 May 2025
by Toby Young

There Will Be No Climate Catastrophe: MIT Professor Dr Richard Lindzen

29 May 2025
by Hannes Sarv

Comedian’s Show Cancelled Over Liverpool Parade Crash Joke

30 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

BBC ‘Damages Countryside’ to Film Chris Packham’s Springwatch

30 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

German Pensioner Receives 75-Day Prison Sentence in Latest Speech Crime Scandal to Hit the Federal Republic

29 May 2025
by Eugyppius

Comedian’s Show Cancelled Over Liverpool Parade Crash Joke

38

News Round-Up

33

Miliband Attacks Blair Over Net Zero Criticism and Admits He Could Lose Seat to Reform

19

BBC ‘Damages Countryside’ to Film Chris Packham’s Springwatch

14

Electric Cars Halve in Value After Just Two Years

13

Are Schools Actually Institutionalised Childcare?

30 May 2025
by Joanna Gray

Trump is Handing Africa to the Chinese for the Sake of Social Media Clout

29 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Hooked on Freedom: Why Medical Autonomy Matters

29 May 2025
by Dr David Bell

So Renters WILL Pay the Costs of Net Zero

29 May 2025
by Ben Pile

The Net Zero Agenda’s Continued Collapse Into Chaos

28 May 2025
by Ben Pile

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences