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"All over government, people are being asked to deliver the totally impossible at unimaginable speed."

A new government wishing to make an impact quickly should think twice before starting any machinery of government changes, says the former perm sec

Brexit has created a political crisis, but the civil service has stopped it becoming even more destructive, says the former DWP perm sec

The leak of the Cabinet Office’s Operation Yellowhammer contingency planning shows how much government is working on mitigating the risks it can predict from a no-deal Brexit. But the government cannot prepare for things it doesn’t know will happen

Sir Leigh Lewis retired at the end of 2010 after a 38-year career in government that included perm sec stints in both the Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions. Here are 10 things he’s learned about life after the higher echelons of Whitehall

The unnamed civil servant setting out their Brexit views should resign to pursue their political ambitions in the open, says former Home Office and DWP perm sec

When the history of Brexit is written, it will be some of this country’s political leaders, not its civil service, that will be subject to the harshest scrutiny, says the former DWP perm sec

Government faces constant contradictions in public expectations – and nowhere more so than the Home Office. A more honest discussion might help us learn the lessons of Windrush

Comments by the prominent Brexiteer accusing Treasury officials of manipulating forecasts on the impact of leaving the EU reveal a man utterly unsuited to high office, says the former Department for Work and Pensions perm sec

The former DWP perm sec despairs at the speed of ministerial churn, but argues that there is a way to slow Westminster's revolving doors

The former DWP permanent secretary argues for a return to civility in the corridors of power, and offers his tips for preventing the ascendance of overmighty special advisers whose presence crushes open debate and discussion

We shouldn't have to wait until the wheels fall off to find that cuts to services have gone way beyond any sustainable level, argues the former DWP permanent secretary

Reducing sickness absence is a vital task for leaders, and it must start with some difficult conversations if real progress is to be made 

During my many years inside government I met ministers from all parties who, privately, agreed that universal Winter Fuel Payments were a costly and untargeted indulgence which we could ill afford

In the first of his occasional opinion pieces on issues that matter to officials, former permanent secretary Sir Leigh Lewis takes aim at the  civil service grading system 

Former Department for Work and Pensions permanent secretary Leigh Lewis finds that Martin Stanley’s new book How to be a Civil Servant offers a valuable guide, but not quite the whole picture