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Monday, 25 February, 2002, 15:13 GMT
Profile: Sir Richard Mottram
![]() Richard Mottram was tipped for the top job
The glittering prize of becoming cabinet secretary looked within the grasp of the transport department's most senior civil servant.
Now Sir Richard Mottram, the man tipped as a frontrunner for the Downing Street job, has to cope with the fallout from in-fighting in his own department. It is not the first time the 55-year-old has become embroiled in major disputes between ministers and other civil servants. As private secretary to then Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine in 1985, Sir Richard gave evidence for the prosecution in the trial of Clive Ponting.
During the trial, Sir Richard was asked whether ministers' comments should be truthful and unambiguous. He replied: "In highly-charged political matters, one person's ambiguity may be another person's truth." Westland experience Sir Richard's time working with Michael Heseltine gave him first hand experience too of the storm surrounding high-profile resignations - as his boss walked out of the cabinet in the Westland crisis.
He quickly gained promotion, working at the Cabinet Office before the Ministry of Defence and winning his own department in 1992 as head of the Office of Public Service and Science. After three years as permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence, he was moved again in 1998. Transport move The early years of the Labour government saw him alongside Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions. Seen as a moderniser when improving public services topped Tony Blair's agenda, he kept his senior position when the department was restructured last year. Now Stephen Byers has landed responsibility for dealing with the current furore with Sir Richard. The transport secretary said it was Sir Richard who had told him about Mr Sixsmith's disputed resignation. And batting away questions about Mr Sixsmith's claims on ITV's Dimbleby programme, Mr Byers said such "personnel" matters was handled by Sir Richard. Now attention is focused on whether Mr Byers or Sir Richard could themselves be involved in a personnel shake-up in the higher echelons of government. |
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