Now that the Government’s “war on Whitehall” seems to be over 👇, a thread on this curious episode.

TL;DR Absolutely nothing has changed in the civil service, apart from the identities of a few very senior office holders (1/20)

Firstly, the ‘war’ does genuinely seem to be over. Congrats to Tom Scholar on his reappointment, kudos to the PM & Chancellor for a wise decision, and to Simon Case for whatever he’s done to bring these pointless hostilities to an end at such an important time (2/20)

But it’s worth asking: what has this latest attempt, accompanied as it has been by ferocious (if mostly anonymously briefed) rhetoric, actually involved?

The answer is, by historical standards, virtually nothing at all. There have been two discernible strands of activity (3/20)

First, there’s been the defenestration of about half a dozen very senior officials, including, most unusually, the cabinet secretary.

But the replacements have been career insiders, cut from the same cloth. Sometimes they’ve been a good bit younger, but not always. (4/20)