Civil servants have threatened to lead a revolt against Reform UK by leaving Whitehall posts en masse if Nigel Farage wins the next general election.
Top mandarins and low-grade Whitehall insiders have become increasingly jittery about Reform’s chances in 2029, particularly after Danny Kruger unveiled plans to slash the size of the Civil Service.
"I would be surprised if some people can stomach it, in particular in departments like the Home Office," one official told Politico.
Another added: "If Reform is still leading 12 to 18 months ahead of the general election, expect lots of civil service CVs to be going round."
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However, one Whitehall insider expressed excitement about the prospect of a Reform-led Government.
"I think I might actually love it," they said.
"They might actually get stuff done and get rid of some of the nonsense we have to deal with."
Reform UK’s Doge chief responded by inviting the mandarin to get in touch with him.
Nigel Farage | PA"Let’s get you running a department," Mr Yusuf added.
Revelations about a revolt within Whitehall came just months after a top trade union boss told civil servants who refuse to work with Mr Farage to get another job.
General Secretary of the First Division Association Dave Penman told GB News: "If a civil servant doesn't like that, is uncomfortable with it.
"Which they are entitled to do, then they have to leave the civil service. That’s how it is."
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Reform UK MP for Ashfield, Lee Anderson (left) and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on stage during the Reform UK party's annual conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham | PAHe added: "I would absolutely think about that because what the Civil Service does, and does well, is it gives ministers the best evidence-based advice.
"It’s under the Civil Service Code that their job is to give them impartial evidence-based advice.
"And the ministers make choices about that. When they appoint people who simply politically agree with them, they're not going to get that sort of challenge.
"And that's the sort of challenge that ministers need.
The Civil Service has become increasingly bloated
| Institute for Government"At the end of the day, ministers are accountable for policy so they can ignore that and say 'that's all very interesting, this is what I want you to do and do that'. And that happens all the time.
"But that impartial evidence-based advice from people who are employed because of what they know rather than what they believe, I think it makes for better Government."
Mr Kruger, who defected to Reform UK from the Tories in September 2025, last month confirmed Mr Farage will look to cut 68,000 civil service jobs and replace permanent secretaries with outsiders.
"It is quite unacceptable that the permanent secretary class that has run our country for so many years, through all these changes of government, can have presided over a collapse in productivity and in the terrible outcomes and the waste that we’ve been seeing," he said.
“So I think there is real change coming at that level and part of that will be bringing in people from outside to take those roles and to give ministers more authority to appoint and dismiss the people that advise them.”
Mr Kruger claimed his proposed cuts to Whitehall will slash the civil service salary bill by 17 per cent, saving £5.2billion a year.
He also suggested Reform UK would offer bumper bonus payments to the best-performing mandarins in Whitehall.
Mr Kruger added: “We want them to feel valued and properly rewarded so that means retaining expertise within a subject area so that we grow real experience and knowledge in each domain of government.
“It means paying good people more than they get at the moment with proper rewards for performance.”
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