Tom Scholar

Kwasi Kwarteng, the new chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Treasury attempted to share the news of the removal of the Treasury’s top civil servant in a diplomatic manner, however, it has been met with strong criticism suggesting the move could unnecessarily “corrupt” the civil service.

In the Treasury’s announcement Mr Scholar, who has been a civil servant for 30 years and held the position of Treasury permanent secretary since 2016, said: “The chancellor decided it was time for new leadership at the Treasury, and so I will be leaving with immediate effect.”

“If there was ever a time we needed experience and continuity, which is what the Civil Service provides, it is now,” retired cabinet secretary and civil servant Lord Robin Butler said on BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend.

Lord Butler added: “I think the politicians are beginning to forget the constitution. The Civil Service is Her Majesty’s Civil Service. A government wouldn’t come in and on the first day sack the head of Her Majesty’s defence forces, the chief of the defence staff.

“I think they are behaving improperly towards the Civil Service. It will weaken them but it will also corrupt our system because one of those great advantages of having an independent, loyal Civil Service will be compromised.

In a tweet, Mr Scholar’s predecessor as Treasury permanent secretary, Nick Macpherson, said: “Tom Scholar is the best civil servant of his generation. Sacking him makes no sense.

“His experience would have been invaluable in the coming months as government policy places massive upward pressure on the cost of funding. As Gordon Brown used to say ‘they’re not thinking’.”

The Treasury announced that in the interim, Beth Russell (director general tax and welfare) and Cat Little (director general, public spending) will lead the department as acting permanent secretaries.