UK civil service tweet - done on purpose?

[CoRhona]

The official account of the civil service tweeted this earlier, widely thought to be about Boris' defence of Dominic Cimmings:

"Arrogant and offensive
Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?"

I think some poor sod has tweeted from the 'work' account instead of their own.

DH thinks it was done on purpose.

YABU - it most definitely was done on purpose

YANBU - Ooops...

Or maybe the person is wfh and left their laptop logged in to the twitter account and their partner/house mate did it. That would be my excuse if it was me and I was trying to wriggle out of trouble.

That would cause just as much trouble. DH is a civil servant WFH at the moment. The laptop is his work laptop so he is supposed to be the only person using it, they got an email from their manager with a list of security instructions which included locking the screen if they had to move away from the laptop for any reason, fully logging out at the end of each session, and not having any listening devices such as Alexa in the room where he is working.

If someone WFH had left their CS laptop (which will have software on it giving access to sensitive information) unlocked long enough for someone to access the CS Twittdr account and post that then they'd be just as sacked.

That's why I thought it could have been someone who just pressed the wrong account button.

But OP have you not seen the multiple posts explaining that a Civil Servant would be in equally big trouble if they tweeted this from a personal account?

@argumentativeaardvaark not when I originally posted the thread - they came after my question

Fair play to whoever did it. More courage than all the tory mp's who are apparently outraged but are staying silent, the cowardly fucks.

I don't think it's something a civil servant of the level to have access to the official login could put on their private Twitter either.

I expect it was done deliberately, either by someone planning to leave or someone expecting DC to go and setting out their stall for the next boss.

Brilliant. Perfect.

Deliberate and it was brilliant.

Is it possible that the tweeter could remain anonymous as a few people would have accces to the Twitter account? I realise IP addresses can be tracked it could be concealed perhaps. The civil service were savaged by Cummings in Jan.

Or it could have been hacked.

I'd be surprised if the person operating the Civil Service social media accounts is higher than an O-band, to be honest. When I worked for the civil service I applied for a promotion position into a department that had social media under its remit and the staff with responsibility for posting updates were a mix of AO and O bands, although this around 13-14 years ago before social media really took off in a big way so it might have changed now.

In the department I worked AA was the lowest band, then AO, then O.

I've worked for various civil service departments and the only time you would do a tweet like that is if you are retiring.

All companies I've worked for regardless of sector and size have the rule you have to lock your laptop screen, keep people in your household off your work laptop and do everything to keep it secure e.g. locked room, locking doors while at home.

doesn't mesn it doesnt happen tho. Very hard to prove it was whoever that laptop was assigned to in a shared house.

It was deliberate and a hell of a resignation letter.

It wasn’t someone else. It was perfectly put from the person who did have to work with them.

It’s exactly how you would feel.

I think it's quite telling that it say "work with" not "work for". Does that suggest it was someone quite senior or has the civil service gone all "we're all equals here"?

I am going to go one further. I think that it is perfectly possible (note: I don't say 'I think they did' because I have no idea) that it was not only deliberate, but sanctioned.

Cummings has made it his mission to destroy the civil service. I honestly think it is perfectly possible that in the new climate where acting completely outrageously and getting away with it is fast becoming the tried and tested way to get what you want, they've done the same.

If so they have played a blinder. That tweet is all over SM with laughing emojis and responses entirely positive towards the civil service and what now appear to be a brave band of the Sensible/Experts who also hate the Slimebag Cummings but whose hands are tied, but haha, this is how they really feel - just like the rest of us (cheeky wink).

I have no idea, but I honestly think it's perfectly possible that some quite clever person within the CS decided to give DC a taste of his own media-savvy, duplicitous medicine.

That tweet has helped the CS image as much as it has stuck the knife into Govt.

Meanwhile, CS - 'Oh dear. Not sanctioned of course. The offender has been dealt with'

I don't think it undermines the civil service at all. Quite the opposite. I think the public perception will be more positive, other than with the minority that agree with Boris on the whole DC affair.

Do you or do you not think a tweet like that undermines the government? If yes then it is undermining the civil service who sole purpose is to support the elected government. The civil service must not compete with the government to be more ‘positive’ in public perception.

@argumentativeaardvaark not when I originally posted the thread - they came after my question

OK but your most recent post seemed to be repeating the reasons why you thought it was a possibility, without mentioning any of the responses.

Do you or do you not think a tweet like that undermines the government? If yes then it is undermining the civil service who sole purpose is to support the elected government. The civil service must not compete with the government to be more ‘positive’ in public perception.

That was the reality before the PM's closest unelected advisor started trying to dismantle the service from the inside in order to pass its functions on to private companies run by his mates.

Johnson and his cronies have driven a coach and horses through the status quo you describe above.

Not everyone has a personal Twitter account with their full name on. I have my first name and a picture but you wouldn’t be able to identify my employer from my tweets or who I follow, and it’s private. It’s perfectly possible there are civil servants using private personal accounts without their full name/photo so I still think accidentally tweeting from the wrong account is possible.

That tweet has helped the CS image as much as it has stuck the knife into Govt.

Then it has hugely helped DC bid to get rid of the civil service; who in government could trust them?

It wasn’t accidental. It wasn’t for the personal account.

Someone thought fuck it and tweeted.

To be fair to OP, her last post said she thought not she thinks that someone posted from the wrong account.

Also, the rules above apply (security of laptop etc) for private industry, not just the Civil Service.

The person would know that it would be seen, it would be reported and they would face the sack.

Maybe the person is confident they can't be traced. There must be a rota of people who man the account, all with a password. Can IT prove which person logged in? Especially if they did from a personal phone or computer, not the work one? I'm not sure how good it forensic investigating is?

They would be able to trace the login anyway - I’d hope they would know how to do that! Whoever owns the account should know who was driving it at that time.