The Cabinet Secretary has been warned by senior civil servants of a “woke takeover of Whitehall” that risks “improperly” influencing Government policy. The Telegraph has the story.
Simon Case was told in a letter signed by 42 staff from 16 departments that ideology on gender promoted by trans activists has become embedded in the Civil Service in a “significant breach of impartiality”.
It says the concept that “everyone has a gender identity which is more important than their sex” is “treated as undisputed fact”.
Staff who dare to air gender-critical views – meaning they believe there are two biological sexes that cannot be changed – suffer “serious harassment” at work and live with a “pervasive fear” they will be victimised, the letter adds.
As a result, it says, the operation of government is being “distorted” and the authors plead for “urgent action to ensure that Civil Service impartiality is upheld, and freedom of belief is respected”.
The Civil Service’s head of human resources has met some of the signatories to discuss their concerns, but the letter – along with extensive evidence of the way highly contentious beliefs are promoted in numerous Whitehall departments – has been leaked to the Telegraph amid complaints that the response has been inadequate.
Gender-critical beliefs are protected by the Equality Act 2010, which also protects people against discrimination on the grounds of gender reassignment. The authors of the letter argue that only one of those rights is given any weight by the Civil Service.
The letter states: “Many of us have experienced some form of professional disadvantage because we do not believe that the concept of gender identity is meaningful, or that it is more important than sex. Several of us have been through stressful and intrusive employment disputes.”
If only we had a Conservative Government committed to a ‘war on woke’…
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Jacob Rees-Mogg responds to the revelations in the Telegraph, saying: ‘This obstruction and wokery is designed to stop democracy working.‘
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