Exclusive: ‘Arrogant’ Tory mayor Houchen blames ‘atrocious’ civil servants for party’s woes

Labour’s Andy McDonald says Tees Valley mayor has “demonstrated again that he wishes to be free to behave exactly how he likes without being questioned or criticised.”

By Lucas Amin and Peter Geoghegan

Ben Houchen used to like civil servants. A couple of years ago, he publicly celebrated his Conservative government’s moves to relocate hundreds of civil service jobs to the north-east.

Now, it seems, the Tees Valley mayor has identified who is to blame for Britain’s - and the Conservative’s - problems…. yep, it’s civil servants and bureaucrats.

In previously unreported comments, Houchen told an audience of Liz Truss’s Popular Conservatives earlier this week that some civil servants “absolutely” were “working against the democratic mandate of this government”.

The unelected peer Lord Houchen of High Leven was particularly scathing about unelected government officials. 

“I’ve seen some Arms Length Bodies who are absolutely atrocious, who absolutely have their own agenda,” Houchen said in an online discussion with Mark Littlewood, former boss of the Institute of Economic Affairs and now leader of the dark money-funded PopCons. 

“Their organisations and boards, some of their junior officers, have their own agendas and actively work against anything remotely prosperous for this country,” Houchen added.

Tory attacks on civil servants are nothing new. Michael Gove and his special adviser Dominic Cummings spent years “battling the blob” at the Department for Education. 

Houchen’s comments are particularly striking, however.

An independent review of Teesworks Freeport - which Houchen had claimed had raised £2 billion in private sector investment and would create 3,000 jobs - was launched following “allegations of corruption, wrongdoing and illegality”. 

The review - which was led by three unelected local government officials - reported earlier this year. Amongst other things, it found that the Teeswork freeport did not guarantee value for money or transparency for taxpayers. 

“There has been no private finance invested to date whilst over £560 million of public funds have been spent or committed,” the report stated. There have been calls for a full National Audit Office inquiry. 

Last month, Houchen blamed Sunak for Conservative “chaos” shortly after he was re-elected as Tees Valley mayor. Speaking with the ‘PopCons’ this week, he said that the big problem was civil servants who had worked to throw the government off course, particularly on migration. 

“The Home Office is one of those departments that absolutely is working against the democratic mandate of the government,” he said. "We’ve seen multiple home secretaries who… fervently believe in trying to deliver lower immigration, passionately, and they found it virtually impossible to do it.” 

“The system leaks, they try and make political problems for ministers to try and throw off track plans, and ultimately you do have this spectre of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).”

Leaving the ECHR, Houchen added, was one thing which could “move the dial” in the polls, and he hoped “see this explained in very strong terms in the coming days by the Prime Minister.”

Responding to Houchen’s comments, former Middlesbrough MP and parliamentary candidate for the new seat of Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, Andy McDonald told this newsletter: "Sadly, I’m not really surprised at the comments of Lord Houchen as his mode of operation as Tees Valley Mayor is one that has scant regard for institutional rigour or of governance and proper processes.

“The Tees Valley Review into Teesworks shone a light on his arrogant disregards, resulting in scathing conclusions and 28 fundamental recommendations all of which laid bare just how cavalier he has been in using over half a billion pounds worth of taxpayer commitment.

“If he thinks the operation by civil servants of the demanded disciplines of openness, transparency and scrutiny are problematic irritations for him, or that being accountable, as to whether the taxpayer is ensuring value for money is an inconvenience, then it’s not really a shock that he completes the journey with an attack on the European Court of Human Rights.

“He has demonstrated time and time again that he wishes to be free to behave exactly how he likes without being questioned or criticised.”

Houchen also revealed he was keeping an eye on the “experiment in Argentina… which at this stage looks like it is bearing some fruit.” 

This was a coded reference to the “anarcho-capitalist” president of Argentina, Javier Milei, who is fond of revving an actual chainsaw at his political rallies.

Milei even presented a “Chainsaw Plan” for government, according to the Associated Press, which aims to “slash public spending, scrap half the government’s ministries, sell state-owned companies and eliminate the central bank.” 

As we’ve reported before, Milei has ties to the same international networks of right-wing dark money that has long funded and backed Tufton Street and other British think tanks. 

The Conservatives have yet to respond to request to comment. 

Democracy for Sale will continue to report throughout the general election campaign and beyond. We have some major investigations coming *very soon*. 

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