Most of the government’s core objectives, such that they can be seen or even remembered these days, do not fit neatly into one departmental box. They sprawl untidily and require forensic coordination and focus at the centre to be implemented. This requires a strong delivery arm with a motivated workforce. Serwotka’s ‘revelations’ seem to suggest that we have the worst of all worlds just 14 months out from a General Election – a politicised civil service mired in divisive identity politics. The plot to deprive Hungary of its rightful turn to take the presidency is not just about Hungary itself. It is more than just an attempt to humiliate a small Central European nation. It is about the broader culture war that is engulfing Europe. Most entitled of all are the interviewees who demand to know why there even has to be a discussion about gender identity. ‘Why can’t we just be accepted for who we say we are?’, is their plea. They may smile sweetly while raising this question, but a group of Scottish women’s rights campaigners reminds us that they are really asking women to allow men into all the places where they are most vulnerable. And while they’re at it, they’re asking women to give up their claim to the word ‘woman’.

We are being gaslit morning, noon and night. We see a man and they tell us it’s a woman – literally, legally a woman. We see a dude with a beard and they say it’s a lesbian. ‘Let her associate with other lesbians’, they say, every word a lie. We see a pregnant woman on the front of this month’s Glamour magazine and they say it is a ‘pregnant man’. The truth – that only women get pregnant; that no man has ever been pregnant or ever will be – is cruelly overridden. It is burnt at the stake of ideology. The delusions of the elites carry more weight than truth itself – that is how arrogant the new authoritarianism has become; how determined our rulers are to remake reality in the image of their own fevered opinion. By ‘EU values’ what is really meant is hyper-federalism, multiculturalism, diversity and the mainstreaming of gender-identity ideology. The plot against the Hungarian presidency is ultimately an attempt to prevent the Hungarian government from having a platform to promote its own values, such as its attachment to national sovereignty and to tradition. Some MEPs go so far as to claim that these values are incompatible with membership of the EU. But to keep spiked free we ask regular readers like you, if you can afford it, to chip in – to make sure that those who can’t afford it can continue reading, sharing and arguing.

The European Parliament has long been committed to cutting Hungary and its prime minister, Viktor Orbán, down to size. Last month, MEPs drew up a long resolution that calls into question Hungary’s ability to manage a successful presidency. It was passed by the parliament this week. Remi Adekoya – author of It’s Not About Whiteness, It’s About Wealth – is the latest guest on The Brendan O’Neill Show. Remi and Brendan discuss the truth about racial inequality, the dangers of racial identity politics and how Africa can realise its potential. The Cabinet Office should not be a crèche for those unsuited to the world of work. Nor should it be a place where people are treated with actual disrespect. It seems to me that, rather than engage in fruitless and expensive DEI programmes, which often only make the work environment more polarised, the Cabinet Office should employ people with the skills to deliver, the resilience to cope with a pressurised workplace, and the moral fibre to conduct themselves respectfully. Racist behaviour should be implacably challenged. People with ability should be cherished and supported to thrive, regardless of irrelevant characteristics. Managers or officials who cannot function in a workplace without diminishing others should be fired. It really isn’t that complicated. spiked is free for all to read. But to keep it that way, we ask loyal readers like you to support our work. This is a curious situation to say the least. After all, officials at the Cabinet Office have been practically marinated in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for years, many expensively delivered by an industry of external consultants and NGOs. The Cabinet Office was responsible for designing and delivering the ‘Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy’. It recently launched a programme to increase the number of ethnic minorities at the top of Whitehall through intensive coaching. You could fall over the number of race and ‘LGBTQI+’ allyship trainers and internal support groups. Why has all this anti-prejudice effort apparently been so spectacularly unsuccessful? Why is the Cabinet Office, which should be solely focussed on delivering the objectives of the democratically elected government, instead a seeming poster child for discrimination?