Asked why the cabinet secretary’s job is to be split three ways on the retirement of incumbent Sir Gus O’Donnell, government spokespeople – up to and including Gus himself – argue that, given coalition government and civil service reform, the job is simply too big for one individual. This is not unfair; but few insiders believe that it’s why the job’s been split.

In fact, Number 10 permanent secretary Jeremy Heywood has made himself as invaluable to David Cameron as he was to Labour PMs Blair and Brown, and to Tory chancellors Lamont and Clarke before them. As cabinet secretary, he’ll have a clearer mandate to continue the work he’s made his own: brokering agreement across the coalition, tightening David Cameron’s control over Tory-led departments’ policies, and coordinating the government’s responses to a fast-changing set of global challenges.

Yet while Heywood has built a stellar career on being apolitical, he loves swimming deep in the political sea; he’s not interested in Gus’s very public organisational management role as head of the home civil service, nor in the delicate, frustrating job of pushing civil service reform out through the Cabinet Office. The role has, in effect, been broken up in order to give David Cameron the man he wants, in the job he wants.

That split, as this newspaper has argued (see article), creates new problems – particularly for the new civil service head, who must catalyse reform without the cabinet secretary’s heft or ready access to the PM; stand up for civil servants without alienating ministers; strengthen corporate management while standing outside the corporate centre; and ensure absolute unity on reform with Cabinet Office permanent secretary Ian Watmore. And they must do all this while running a major department.

This is a big ask. Upset the PM or key ministers, alienate departments with clumsy reforms, fail to voice civil servants’ dissatisfaction, or let the efficiency agenda slide, and the new head could end up an impotent figurehead. Readers may observe that evading any of these risks will entail a danger of encountering one or more of the others.

Given all this, CSW is quite sure that Sir Bob Kerslake is the right man for the job (see news). The 11 years he spent running Sheffield City Council demonstrate his ability to reform a huge public organisation, and show a track record of success in delivery. While his localism credentials are impeccable, he’s talked of the need for the civil service to develop a stronger corporate identity and central management ever since he arrived on Whitehall (read the interview here).

Perhaps most importantly, he’s proved his readiness to speak up for ordinary civil servants – and his ability to do so without upsetting politicians. “If I had one message for ministers, it would be: ‘Don’t take the civil service for granted’,” he told Civil Service Live in July. “It’s the foundation of how they perform and deliver.” (See article) Kerslake’s own secretary of state is, of course, leading Whitehall-basher Eric Pickles – yet though Kerslake happily expanded on his point in his September CSW interview, he remains on good terms with Pickles. Meanwhile, his words have prompted other permanent secretaries to stand up for their staff: international development chief Mark Lowcock recently cited Sir Bob’s comments when he too called for civil servants to be given greater recognition (see interview).

CSW noted in its September interview with Kerslake that he has a record of taking tough jobs just as they get tougher – and his new role falls neatly into that pattern. In fact, it’s tougher even than suggested by the challenges listed above, as Sir Bob will also have to keep a close eye on the private offices: the Adam Werritty affair is symptomatic of wider problems concerning unofficial aides, the political selection of civil servants, and special advisers who overstep the mark. Yet if Kerslake seems to end up with tough jobs, he also has a strong record of making those jobs work. His new role looks dangerously like a poisoned chalice; but if anyone can drink from it and grow stronger, it’s Sir Bob Kerslake.

Matt Ross, Editor. matt.ross@dods.co.uk

Written by Matt Ross