Mark Sedwill
The Guardian
What holds, and what fails, under pressure, standards and accountability.
Mark Sedwill served as the UK's top civil servant, navigating the country through significant challenges like the pandemic and Brexit. This interview highlights his commitment to protecting institutional integrity and fostering resilience in turbulent times.
“Nick, I was referring to the people rather than the system and so on as a whole, because frankly, it's too early to reach that conclusion. We aren't through this yet, and how well the UK has done compared to others, we'll have to see. Clearly, there are some lessons for us and everyone else to learn.”
“Yeah, I mean, it's difficult to know whether it would have been thousands, but definitely a very large number of people were put at risk by that. It was a really reckless attack. We didn't know exactly how wide it went. So the cordon that had to be imposed by the emergency service in Salisbury was really wide to start with.”
“Course, there's a bit of that. I've definitely felt the benefits of decompressing. And I had a pretty frenetic career, almost every job I did was high pressure one way or another, certainly for the last 10 years. So, yeah, the opportunity to change pace, to have a better work-life balance, to provide a bit of support to the family.”
“Yeah, I would have a moment Yes, yes, because that would have been my professional duty to do so. And of course, we all have, even as professional civil servants, we all have certain boundaries and we would, you make those judgments personally.”
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson — The Mark Sedwill One
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