he was the 1st to give boris johnson a welcome to downing street it was said mark sedwill state is a welcome you everybody a man who sits beside the prime. minister as his most senior civil servant will soon serve no longer arguably the greatest television series about civil servants and post-war british democracy is a comedy called yes minister praised for its authenticity by prime ministers it is set to return this year in a fashion 40 years after its 1st episode joining me live from new york is its co-creator the multi award winning film director producer writer and actor jonathan len thank you so much drama coming on so for those who have seen yes minister around the world hacker would be boris johnson so mark sedwill would be so humphrey appleby what did you make of the head of britain's civil service quitting this week of course well i'm not sure that he actually quit him out for his intention to you know as an injection to get i mean obviously he pushed about bill and about it because yes minister and the instruments or was about the conflict between politicians and civil serv

sir mark sedwill steps down at the end of september and will be replaced as national security advisert, who will also remain the eu chief negotiator — which he says will be his top single priority until the negotiations have concluded. if the negotiations carry on into october and beyond, who is going to have the nation's security as their top single priority? or is thisjust a case of misapplied persistent experimentation? one of the key things i would say about the negotiations with the european union is, as we both know, they are accelerating at the moment, as both sides seek to find a conclusion. does my right on my friend share my genuine confusion at the ambivalence of the benches opposite — that somebody who was first appointed to the foreign office at a time to shadow home secretary was seven years old, who served in denmark, paris, cyprus and the united nations, doesn't command their full support? unsurprisingly michael gove did agree. david frost is to be made a peer but their was disquiet about his appointment in the lords too. mr frost is a man of proven resilience and stam

the uk's most senior civil servant sir mark sedwill has called being briefed against "a regrettable featurehat he'll be stepping down as cabinet secretary and national security adviser in september. borisjohnson has announced that the security adviser will now be a separate role. we have begun an inquiry into bio—security as a national security issue. and for that reason and because, we have not seen you since the last election. 0r indeed for a little while. we decided to ask you to give evidence. since we issued that invitation you accepted it, you resigned. why? i haven't resigned. the prime minister and i agreed i should step down by agreement and that was essentially because we had concluded that it was time to split the jobs again and have a separate national security adviser, a separate cabinet secretary. the combined model was right and for the period of my tenure, but it is time as war are moving to this next phase of dealing with recovery, and so on, we concluded that we need a separate national security adviser and those people should see the prime minister through the rest of thi

wider shake up at the top of government, which saw the current national security adviser, sir mark sedwillry's top civil servant standing down. answering an urgent question from labour, the minister for the cabinet office michael gove defended the move. he is now the uk's brexit negotiator, shaping our future relationship with the eu, covering issues from trade and tariffs to security and defence corporation. as nsa, david frost will help to deliver this government's vision for britain's place in the world, supporting the prime minister in reinvigorating our national security architecture and ensuring we defend our interests and values across the globe. but labour questioned the appointment. the first duty of any government is to keep people safe. in carrying out that duty, any government should have objective and at times challenging advice from its national security advisers. it is why making a political appointment takes this government into such dangerous territory. weak prime ministers take advice only from those who agree with them. a former prime minister also questioned the appoint

questions are being asked about democracy in britain this comes after britain's top civil servants mark sedwill announced he has to quit amidst widespread westminster gossip the.