One Wales rule for the rich...

The handling by the Welsh Assembly government of two civil servants shows the different treatment of the tops in Welsh society from that of ordinary people.

Dave Reid Cardiff

An unnamed junior civil servant in the Welsh Assembly has been sacked for running a political blog called Christopher Glamorganshire. It has detailed negotiations between the parties leading up to the One Wales government last year. The civil servant has breached the civil service code by using information he gained in his job.

Contrast that treatment with the way Alison Teague was dealt with. She had been employed as a senior civil servant by the Welsh Assembly government to monitor Arriva Trains Wales, which currently receives an annual subsidy of Ł140 million from the assembly.

But then it emerged that she was living with the boss of Arriva Trains Wales! Teague was not sacked, merely transferred to another job within the civil service.

The incident also revealed that Teague also used to work for Arriva. How could she have maintained an impartial observation on behalf of the government and rail users over the firm she had worked for?

This incestuous relationship between senior civil servants and business is not unusual. Many senior civil servants retire early and move straight into directorships or consultancies in the very firms they were regulating. Many bosses get jobs in the civil service.

This two-way corrupt traffic helps big business undemocratically control the instruments of government. We have the Teague incident to thank for at least briefly lifting the blanket of secrecy that usually hides this process.

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In The Socialist 16 July 2008:

Global finance crisis deepens