The Observer says radical plans to bring in more “politicisation” of Whitehall by allowing ministers greater powers to appoint their own civil servants are being considered by the government’s own adviser on the civil service. Writing in the paper, the Conservative peer and former Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, who is expected to report shortly to Rishi Sunak, said “we need to be more robust and less mealy-mouthed about ‘politicisation'”.