Kemi Badenoch on the Tavistock GIDS

[InTheCanteen]

This is so good:

Tavistock scandal shows the dangers of civil service groupthink

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0df1a300-1022-11ed-b7aa-67f5549661eb?shareToken=a63b0046a438836d715431528446b1a3

“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.“

Regardless of whether you agree with her wider politics or not she seems a decent person who holds the views she does because she is try to help people.

I liked her before but she has really impressed over the leadership campaign and since.

I do hope she gets a really senior position in one of the departments the most urgently need de-woke-ifying.

'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”.'

Oh my word, is this what's happening with the Scottish Govt's interminable repeated 'consultations'?

A lot of the hard work was done by gender-critical journalists and a feminist grassroots movement informing the public of what was going on at great personal cost.

🌞

Here’s what needs to happen with civil servants who obstruct the will of the electorate: there’s the door, don’t let it hit you in the arse etc.

It’s not on. They’re not elected and have no decision-making power.

'Some proposals I saw on our conversion therapy plans would have inadvertently criminalised the very clinicians who blew the whistle at the Tavistock.'

🌞

I can't help admiring Badenoch. More and more, I pay attention to the personal qualities of a politician or potential leader over and above their policy positions (unless very extreme). A leader should be intelligent, brave, empathetic, questioning, public-spirited and principled, but also rational, not ideological, and form policy based on evidence and be able to see others' point of view. I accept that other people will not see things from my standpoint, but everyone should understand and operate on the basis that they could be wrong about everything and be prepared to call a halt to any policy which results in people being harmed.

I really liked the fact that she said calling political positions "woke" trivialises the issues - this signalled to me that she understands that she has to reach people who disagree with her and dismissing them as "woke" means they will not listen. At least I hope that's what she meant!

I've been reading about this whole issue for more than 4 years, but that article was really enlightening. She really does get it. I really recommend reading it.

This is interesting "Contentious issues such as these need firm direction from a prime minister and I am confident that we will finally see this in the coming year, whichever candidate wins the leadership contest."

A Labour MP told me in private she was grateful her party was not in power because they would not be able to face down the large number of activists online that Labour relies on to push its message.

A feeling shared by many potential Labour voters. Sigh.

Brilliant article. Just brilliant. Thank you Kemi

Well, it's not entirely selfless. She's clearly angling for a position in the cabinet where she can take this stuff on - possibly health or education?

But if a politician wants to make her name and win votes by tackling this stuff, I think we all win.

(Anyone in Labour taking notes...?)

I also like that she changed her view based on new information. That's fucking rare.

It's rare enough to find a politician who is brave and has integrity.

Thanks, Kemi, I am genuinely even more impressed than I already was.

Badenoch is extremely impressive and this is an absolutely superb article.

But she needs to call this what it is - a total collapse of civil service impartiality in clear breach of the Civil Service Code. The GEO needs to be disbanded, everybody involved in obstructing and misinforming ministers dismissed, and the Perm Sec they report to disciplined.

Then there needs to be an investigation of how this happened and where else in the civil service has been captured by activism, starting with the Department of Health & Social Care, DfE and the ONS.

This is an absolutely terrible look for the civil service (and other institutions) - if they can be captured on this issue, what else can they be captured on?

'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” - lol, very true, she really doesn't mince her words, does she.

I hope she doesn't piss them all off too much, it's not an easy battle for Ministers, as civil servants are practically unsackable.

@Manderleyagain

It is interesting. Johnson eventually landed on the right side of history on this, but he needed to act faster and with more decisiveness. Still, the best thing he did with his time in office was probably to appoint the team he did in Women and Equalities, and let this ship turn.

Brilliant article by Kemi

Wowsers! Never read such a blisteringly clear article. Credit to so many people too.

Public inquiry is needed. These are children being irreparably altered, and ministerial oversight and decision-making was being subverted. Disgraceful.

Not all civil servants...

But enough. Too many. Some serious cultural problems there. It was ok sir Humphrey bring sir Humphrey when the intellectual calibre was high. For too long the clever people have gone where they can make real money and by god it shows.

Nikki da Costa in the Telegraph:

mobile.twitter.com/nmdacosta/status/1553436312379789312

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/30/tavistock-transgender-clinic-may-have-closed-fight-isnt/

Similar to Kemi, she says we need the opposition to do its job too, in effect (see third para but I've included comments on both parties for context and balance):

"I am relieved that Conservatives are increasingly speaking out; proud of Boris Johnsonn and Sajid Javidd for championing the Cass Review. And that the two leadership contenders have both said that children should be shielded from irreversible decisions.
There has, however, been no commentary from Labourr_. A party putting itself forward for government should be able to put the needs of children above their fear of activists.
If only one party’s front bench will champion the whistle-blowers, what chance for cross-party agreement? Where do we go from here if the LGBT charities won’t even acknowledge there are issues? How do we find a way to reconcile with a younger generation told that they may be “in the wrong body” and can become the other sex?"

This must be cross-party for a healthy democracy and also - my view - for the constituents of all MPs who might need their assistance. Have parents in Labour areas had no help? I hope not.

Labour should get in the bin. It does nothing for the people it was set up to represent. Privileged wankers nurturing entirely unearned illusions of superiority. Time it does and let something healthy take it’s place

In the article, it says she was Equalities Minister from February 2020 to July 2020.

Keira Bell won her in initial case in December 2020.

Does anyone know when it was announced that she would be taking the Tavistock to court? I can’t find it online. If it was known during the first half of 2020 that she would be suing the Tavistock, it may be that Badenoch’s officials advised her against meeting one side in the case in the run up to the case being heard.

If that’s the reason she was advised against it by her officials, she should have made that clear in the article. Civil servants can’t speak to the press if what politicians say about them is inaccurate or partial/ misleading.

‘If it was known during the first half of 2020 that she would be suing the Tavistock, it may be that Badenoch’s officials advised her against meeting one side in the case in the run up to the case being heard.’

Why would meeting Keira Bell in the run-up to the hearing when the other side was a government funded clinic be inappropriate?

I thought Keira joined an existing case and someone else stepped aside. But even so, I don't see why meeting her would be a problem. Kemi wasn't in health for one thing. You can handle those kinds of meetings - if there's a will to do so.

Excellent, excellent article. The staff network groups need looking at. In my dept, senior leaders belatedly became aware of issue with Stonewall and wanted to move away. However, the staff LGBT network howled ‘transphobia’ and published articles on the Intranet saying that anyone who disagreed with transwomen in women’s sport was a bigot.

It was a shocking breach of impartiality and our duties but the senior leadership team was too frightened of the junior staff to face them down.

Well done Kemi

Out of interest, are you in UK Gov or one of the devolved administrations?

To what extent do you think this sense of ‘moral community’ arises from a desire to be non-racist, non-sexist, and generally non-discriminatory? And (if you’re in UK gov), do you think that a discomfort with being required to implement Conservative Government policies which external commentators might argue to be racist - such as the Rwanda flights - contributes to that?

Her article is very enlightening in how successful the lobby groups really have been. It also shows just how determined she was to do her job and not take the quick or easy way out.