Gordon Brown’s pledge to bring back trust in politics was exposed as a sham last night after his new Ministerial Code left civil servants more politicised than ever before.

It lifts the ban on civil servants from attending party political events for the first time.

Now impartial civil servants will be able to attend Labour’s party conference this autumn to advise and support Mr Brown and other Cabinet ministers.

He has also virtually written the Queen out of the new code, removing all but one reference to the head of state in the document.

Outrageously he has scrapped the obligation for ministers to consult the Queen before making official visits abroad. A phrase telling them it is “discourteous to The Queen” not to attend Privy Council has also been deleted.

The changes prompted claims that Mr Brown, along with Justice Secretary Jack Straw, has a secret republican agenda........

Sunday Express: The World's Greatest Newspaper :: News / Showbiz :: Brown gets political with civil service