Dorries criticises Jacob Rees-Mogg’s ‘Dickensian’ approach to working from home

theguardian.com:

Nadine Dorries has criticised Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister responsible for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, of foisting a “Dickensian” approach to working from home on the civil service.

Rees-Mogg, who has previously been called “the honourable member for the 18th century” has written to cabinet ministers urging them to coerce staff into a “rapid return to the office” and has been leaving notes in empty Whitehall workspaces with the message: “I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.”

Labour MPs called the move “patronising” and “passive-aggressive”.

Rees-Mogg presented figures to cabinet last week showing that some government departments were using as little as 25% of office capacity in early April. Dorries’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was at 43%.

The culture secretary said Rees-Mogg’s letter to government departments brought to mind “images of burning tallow, rheumy eyes and Marley’s ghost” in reference to Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

She said: “There’s a whiff of something Dickensian about it. Why are we measuring bodies behind desks? Why aren’t we measuring productivity?”

The Times reported that several other cabinet ministers had reservations about the plans to force civil servants back to the office, and that some permanent secretaries had also raised concerns.

Dorries and Rees-Mogg have previously disagreed about the need to return to places of work after the lifting of coronavirus restrictions. But a government source told the PA news agency that the dispute between the two was “good natured”.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, said Rees-Mogg’s approach would mean that “good people will leave and the civil