It is important that politicians defend their ability to act without fear or favour, and it is in the public interest that they hold ministers and public servants to account.

It's incumbent on good public servants to maintain their voices and originality of thinking.

When politics is no longer a mission but a profession, politicians become more self-serving than public servants.

Public interest is a very unruly horse.

Our problem in the 2015 general election was that for all the good stuff that was in the Labour manifesto, we were still going to be freezing public sector wages, cutting council expenditure, laying off civil servants. We were offering 'austerity light' instead of a real alternative.

Manufactured scandals prohibit public servants from doing the job they were elected or appointed to do.