Yesterday Francis Maude, the MP for Horsham and Minister for the Cabinet Office made the following statement in the House of Commons:

“Guidance has today been issued to civil servants in UK departments on the principles which they should observe in relation to the conduct of Government business in the run up to the elections for Police and Crime Commissioner roles in England and Wales outside London. The elections will take place on 15 November 2012.

The guidance sets out the need to maintain the political impartiality of the civil service and the need to ensure that public resources are not used for party political purposes. The period of sensitivity preceding the elections starts on 25 October.”

This all seems very reasonable and is of course the law of the land. It is how we deal with elections. However it ignores the fact that the Prime Minister has been entertaining Conservative PCC candidates in the garden of No 10 Downing Street, that Nick Herbert as Policing Minister met with Conservative candidates to have his photo taken with them and grant political briefings, despite ignoring earlier requests from his local independent candidate for a meeting. This is not something restricted to the Government with its dominant use of media and the mechanisms of state. The leader of HM Opposition has paid visits to the local areas for many of the Labour Candidates, all  at our expense and using public resources.

It is time that our ‘servants’ are challenged to follow the spirit as well as the letter of this law of impartiality and prevented from abusing power that does not belong to them. Once a party has declared its candidates they should receive the same treatment that independent candidates receive. No more and no less.