A Labour minister has defended Keir Starmer after a union boss accused him of using "Trumpian language" about civil servants.
Matthew Pennycook said the PM was not "disparaging" about officials as he used a major speech to hit out at "managed decline" in Whitehall. It sparked comparisons to US President-elect Donald Trump, who famously said he wanted to “drain the swamp” of bureaucracy and corruption in Washington DC.
The PM said on Thursday: “I don’t think there’s a swamp to be drained here, but I do think too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline.”
FDA chief David Penman, whose union represents civil servants, slammed the comments. “I don’t think the Prime Minister understands how demanding his words have been," he said.
“I was talking to civil service leaders today about the challenges they face. I think they feel a sense of betrayal. They were told this was going to be a different government.
"Ministers were walking around the department saying: 'We’re not going to be like the previous administration - we’ve got your back.' Yet here we are five months in with that Trumpian language that is getting used.”
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Defending Mr Starmer, Mr Pennycook said: “In no way we're disparaging the civil service. It's absolutely essential to say they’re a bunch of incredibly committed and professional people working with us, but we've got to change the way we do things.
“We have to take the civil service with us on a journey to do government in a slightly different way and that's partly about being very clear on achievable but very stretching targets and milestones.”
Downing Street rejected a characterisation that the civil service is “blocking” projects or that the PM used “Trumpian language” about officials.
Mr Starmer’s deputy spokesman said: “The Prime Minister is setting the direction and pace that the British people expect from this government and has made the scale of his ambitions in that area clear.”