Henry Midgley
@henrymidgley.bsky.social
Ex NAO now at Durham University interested in public sector financial accountability and other related things! Author Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the National Audit Office
This will be really good. Ben knows his stuff and I'm really looking forward to it.
I‘m giving a public talk at UCL on Thurs 16 Oct. The title is “Bureaucracy and distrust: the civil service in the constitution” looking at the civil service’s constitutional foundations, and how it might respond to a populist govt. @sirJJkc.bsky.social will chair!
www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
Hybrid | CLP - Bureaucracy and Distrust: The Civil Service in the Constitution
This lecture will be delivered by Dr Ben Yong, as part of the Current Legal Problems Lecture Series 2025-26
www.ucl.ac.uk
October 6, 2025 at 8:09 AM
This will be really good. Ben knows his stuff and I'm really looking forward to it.
For those interested, we have another workshop at Durham in December- this time on accountability and participation. The deadline for abstracts is the 6th October with registration deadline in November. Its a really topical area both for academics and policy makers.
October 1, 2025 at 5:31 PM
For those interested, we have another workshop at Durham in December- this time on accountability and participation. The deadline for abstracts is the 6th October with registration deadline in November. Its a really topical area both for academics and policy makers.
I completely agree with this. Also I'd note that students talking to each other about each other's courses and ideas beyond those courses is a key part of university education. The chat about the existence of God or the morality of Friends at 3 am matters
August 15, 2025 at 10:46 AM
I completely agree with this. Also I'd note that students talking to each other about each other's courses and ideas beyond those courses is a key part of university education. The chat about the existence of God or the morality of Friends at 3 am matters
Really interesting story but it doesn't cover an important angle. Was the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee
told about this expenditure? That might sound odd but in the past often it has been the Chair of the PAC who would have been told about secret spending like this.
told about this expenditure? That might sound odd but in the past often it has been the Chair of the PAC who would have been told about secret spending like this.
How one of the gravest security lapses in history was kept secret
The story of the super-injunction: the global gagging order sought by successive UK govts to silence media over leak that put thousands at risk of Taliban reprisals
By Alistair Gray & me 👇 #AfghanFiles
www.ft.com/content/dbba...
The story of the super-injunction: the global gagging order sought by successive UK govts to silence media over leak that put thousands at risk of Taliban reprisals
By Alistair Gray & me 👇 #AfghanFiles
www.ft.com/content/dbba...
How one of the gravest security lapses in history was kept secret
Successive UK governments gagged the media over a leak that put thousands at risk of Taliban reprisals
www.ft.com
July 16, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Really interesting story but it doesn't cover an important angle. Was the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee
told about this expenditure? That might sound odd but in the past often it has been the Chair of the PAC who would have been told about secret spending like this.
told about this expenditure? That might sound odd but in the past often it has been the Chair of the PAC who would have been told about secret spending like this.
This is interesting and illuminating on HS2 and well worth reading martinrobbins.substack.com/p/hs2-and-th...
HS2 and the slow decay of Britain
“I have tried to ascertain where design decisions get made... I have struggled to get to a definite answer.”
martinrobbins.substack.com
June 23, 2025 at 11:01 AM
This is interesting and illuminating on HS2 and well worth reading martinrobbins.substack.com/p/hs2-and-th...
Well worth a catchup on these- my talk was on the NAO's history and in the same session, Kirsty Innes (Labour Together) spoke interestingly on digital ID. The discussion after both talks was very high quality too. All the talks Gavin mentions are worth listening to!
And you can catch up on our previous events, featuring @andreasthinks.me @jenitennison.com @cthimon.bsky.social @iipp-ucl.bsky.social @miriamlevin.bsky.social @henrymidgley.bsky.social @kmeinnes.bsky.social @karakane-kk.bsky.social and others, at
medium.com/@transformgo...
www.transformgov.org.uk
medium.com/@transformgo...
www.transformgov.org.uk
TransformGov Talks – Medium
Read writing from TransformGov Talks on Medium.
medium.com
May 21, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Well worth a catchup on these- my talk was on the NAO's history and in the same session, Kirsty Innes (Labour Together) spoke interestingly on digital ID. The discussion after both talks was very high quality too. All the talks Gavin mentions are worth listening to!
I have just published a new piece with Thomas Ahrens and Laurence Ferry about the NAO and the digitalisation of public sector audit. Lots of claims have been made about how digital technology could rapidly revolutionise public sector audit and reinvent democracy.
April 22, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I have just published a new piece with Thomas Ahrens and Laurence Ferry about the NAO and the digitalisation of public sector audit. Lots of claims have been made about how digital technology could rapidly revolutionise public sector audit and reinvent democracy.
Really interesting piece in the Guardian about the post office- its not surprising that questions are being asked of the auditors in the post office scandal-its inevitable that questions about the audit industry should come from this www.theguardian.com/business/202...
EY being investigated over Post Office auditing during Horizon scandal
Financial Reporting Council looking into whether firm met its standards in connection with Horizon IT system
www.theguardian.com
April 16, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Really interesting piece in the Guardian about the post office- its not surprising that questions are being asked of the auditors in the post office scandal-its inevitable that questions about the audit industry should come from this www.theguardian.com/business/202...
This is an undeniably stupid policy which will have longterm effects- we may not be able to access ebooks in their current format in fifty years time for example. There is a real risk that the dash to digital leaves us with less knowledge of the 2020s than we have of the 1920s!
Exactly. I've been amazed there hasn't been more fuss about this. Do authors realize that if their book was produced as an e-book it's not available to BL readers? Because that is the only edition now accepted under the legal deposit scheme. Which, alas, totally negates the purpose of the scheme
18 months after the British Library hack, I can order any physical book but I still can’t read most books from the last decade because they’re only in digital form
April 7, 2025 at 11:23 AM
This is an undeniably stupid policy which will have longterm effects- we may not be able to access ebooks in their current format in fifty years time for example. There is a real risk that the dash to digital leaves us with less knowledge of the 2020s than we have of the 1920s!
Kind comments here about a talk I gave at Transform Government about the NAO- the book the talked is based on is available here www.routledge.com/Holding-Gove...
April 4, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Kind comments here about a talk I gave at Transform Government about the NAO- the book the talked is based on is available here www.routledge.com/Holding-Gove...
This is a great blog from Ben and he asks really important questions but the report he is criticising is poor. Its really poor that at no point do the Committee mention the Treasury or Treasury ministers (excluding the PM). The Treasury though is a key constitutional department.
1/7 Can the executive ‘safeguard’ the constitution? The UK Constitution Committee says yes, but I worry. The plural UK executive means this is unlikely. And if we want internal executive checks like the civil service to work, we need to strengthen them now. Trump 2.0 is a warning.
How can we ensure that executive actors view themselves as stewards and guardians of the constitution?
BEN YONG (@bymyong.bsky.social) reflects on the promise and limits of institutional safeguards.
verfassungsblog.de/executive-co...
BEN YONG (@bymyong.bsky.social) reflects on the promise and limits of institutional safeguards.
verfassungsblog.de/executive-co...
April 1, 2025 at 8:18 AM
This is a great blog from Ben and he asks really important questions but the report he is criticising is poor. Its really poor that at no point do the Committee mention the Treasury or Treasury ministers (excluding the PM). The Treasury though is a key constitutional department.
If true, this looks a major scandal. But it also raises a lot of questions. From my world, why did the audit of the accounts for 2022-3 (which were signed off) not pick this up? or the audit of the accounts in 2023-4 which have not yet been published? x.com/HarryYorke1/...
Harry Yorke on X: "Sunday Times investigation w/@LyonsIzzy The Student Loan Company has uncovered what it suspects to be a major fraud scandal Thousands of students are suspected of fraudulently claiming hundreds of millions of pounds in loans 1/6 https://t.co/sAaiWNDCZC" / X
Sunday Times investigation w/@LyonsIzzy The Student Loan Company has uncovered what it suspects to be a major fraud scandal Thousands of students are suspected of fraudulently claiming hundreds of millions of pounds in loans 1/6 https://t.co/sAaiWNDCZC
x.com
March 23, 2025 at 10:54 AM
If true, this looks a major scandal. But it also raises a lot of questions. From my world, why did the audit of the accounts for 2022-3 (which were signed off) not pick this up? or the audit of the accounts in 2023-4 which have not yet been published? x.com/HarryYorke1/...
Reposted by Henry Midgley
Hey everyone. We'd really appreciate some shares of this to promote our 4th event.
💥💥 26th of March at the MoJ and online. 💥💥
Henry Midgley, Durham University, on Holding Government to Account and Kirsty Innes, Labour Together, on Digital ID.
Register here! lu.ma/h0ci1zdd
💥💥 26th of March at the MoJ and online. 💥💥
Henry Midgley, Durham University, on Holding Government to Account and Kirsty Innes, Labour Together, on Digital ID.
Register here! lu.ma/h0ci1zdd
TransformGov Talks : Fourth event · Luma
For our fourth event we have the following two excellent speakers.
Henry Midgley, Durham University, on Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the…
lu.ma
March 5, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Hey everyone. We'd really appreciate some shares of this to promote our 4th event.
💥💥 26th of March at the MoJ and online. 💥💥
Henry Midgley, Durham University, on Holding Government to Account and Kirsty Innes, Labour Together, on Digital ID.
Register here! lu.ma/h0ci1zdd
💥💥 26th of March at the MoJ and online. 💥💥
Henry Midgley, Durham University, on Holding Government to Account and Kirsty Innes, Labour Together, on Digital ID.
Register here! lu.ma/h0ci1zdd
Reposted by Henry Midgley
🚨 @transformgovtalks.bsky.social EVENT KLAXON 🚨
Join us on Weds 26 March, in person (at MoJ) or online, and hear from:
- @henrymidgley.bsky.social on 'Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the NAO'
- @kmeinnes.bsky.social on digital ID
Sign up: lu.ma/h0ci1zdd
Kindly sponsored by @dxw.com
Join us on Weds 26 March, in person (at MoJ) or online, and hear from:
- @henrymidgley.bsky.social on 'Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the NAO'
- @kmeinnes.bsky.social on digital ID
Sign up: lu.ma/h0ci1zdd
Kindly sponsored by @dxw.com
TransformGov Talks : Fourth event · Luma
For our fourth event we have the following two excellent speakers.
Henry Midgley, Durham University, on Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the…
lu.ma
March 10, 2025 at 1:14 PM
🚨 @transformgovtalks.bsky.social EVENT KLAXON 🚨
Join us on Weds 26 March, in person (at MoJ) or online, and hear from:
- @henrymidgley.bsky.social on 'Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the NAO'
- @kmeinnes.bsky.social on digital ID
Sign up: lu.ma/h0ci1zdd
Kindly sponsored by @dxw.com
Join us on Weds 26 March, in person (at MoJ) or online, and hear from:
- @henrymidgley.bsky.social on 'Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the NAO'
- @kmeinnes.bsky.social on digital ID
Sign up: lu.ma/h0ci1zdd
Kindly sponsored by @dxw.com
This is a fantastic piece- we don't think about covid and we don't think about it enough. This is a pity especially when it comes to government. Covid was two things- a medical event and an emergency. I'm not qualified to write about the first but on the latter (1)
March 14, 2025 at 12:17 PM
This is a fantastic piece- we don't think about covid and we don't think about it enough. This is a pity especially when it comes to government. Covid was two things- a medical event and an emergency. I'm not qualified to write about the first but on the latter (1)
This is a really interesting piece which draws on the book that I, @aaileenm21.bsky.social and Laurence Ferry published in December. It looks at the pressure to make government more efficient- something we are seeing all over the world at the moment- but most famously in the US with Musk and DOGE
Before there was DOGE, there was William Gladstone's 1866 creation of the Exchequer & Audit Department. Elon Musk could learn a few things from its history. My latest for Bloomberg on a century and a half of modern government efforts to tackle fraud, waste and inefficiency.
What Elon Musk Could Learn From the World’s ‘First DOGE’
By focusing entirely on expenditures and glossing over value for money spent, DOGE risks creating even bigger costs for the public sector down the line.
www.bloomberg.com
March 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
This is a really interesting piece which draws on the book that I, @aaileenm21.bsky.social and Laurence Ferry published in December. It looks at the pressure to make government more efficient- something we are seeing all over the world at the moment- but most famously in the US with Musk and DOGE
I just noticed this announcement from my old colleagues at PACAC. ACOBA is a really important organisation in fighting corruption in the UK and we really need it to be effectively led. Appointing an interim chair is disappointing. x.com/CommonsPACAC...
PACAC Committee on X: "We've published a letter from Pat McFadden confirming the @cabinetofficeuk will not be appointing a permanent Chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments at the end of Lord Pickles' tenure at this time." / X
We've published a letter from Pat McFadden confirming the @cabinetofficeuk will not be appointing a permanent Chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments at the end of Lord Pickles' tenure at this time.
x.com
March 5, 2025 at 11:35 AM
I just noticed this announcement from my old colleagues at PACAC. ACOBA is a really important organisation in fighting corruption in the UK and we really need it to be effectively led. Appointing an interim chair is disappointing. x.com/CommonsPACAC...
I am delighted to say that I have just been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society!
February 25, 2025 at 2:28 PM
I am delighted to say that I have just been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society!
This piece by @iandunt.bsky.social on the Government's approach to EU law is very good. Beyond the EU point where I'm less expert, the points about both Parliament and administration are absolutely correct. iandunt.substack.com/p/the-hidden...
The hidden-away bill charting a course back to Europe
No-one wants you to look at the product safety and metrology bill. And there's a really good reason for that.
iandunt.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 12:17 PM
This piece by @iandunt.bsky.social on the Government's approach to EU law is very good. Beyond the EU point where I'm less expert, the points about both Parliament and administration are absolutely correct. iandunt.substack.com/p/the-hidden...
This is a fantastic post by @bymyong.bsky.social- well worth reading connecting a very real question at the moment- who is responsible for renewing Westminster to a very abstract and important constitutional principle- who or what is Parliament. Its well worth a read!
Parliament is a ‘they’. But it is also an ‘it’.
Trying to expand my audience to public lawyers, parliamentary nerds and … metaphysicians
Trying to expand my audience to public lawyers, parliamentary nerds and … metaphysicians
Ben Yong: What—and Who—is Parliament? ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/02/13/b...
February 13, 2025 at 10:03 AM
This is a fantastic post by @bymyong.bsky.social- well worth reading connecting a very real question at the moment- who is responsible for renewing Westminster to a very abstract and important constitutional principle- who or what is Parliament. Its well worth a read!
I am really interested in the debates about Trump in the US at the moment. So for example, the discussion of the OMB freeze memorandum is fascinating from a UK perspective. The constitutional argument that it is for Congress to appropriate and the President to execute is so unfamiliar to the UK
February 1, 2025 at 11:59 AM
I am really interested in the debates about Trump in the US at the moment. So for example, the discussion of the OMB freeze memorandum is fascinating from a UK perspective. The constitutional argument that it is for Congress to appropriate and the President to execute is so unfamiliar to the UK
This is a link to the other place but its really important. As the Public Accounts Committee lays out here, the Ministry of Defence has failed to provide either the equipment plan to Parliament or information to the NAO to allow them to audit the equipment plan. x.com/CommonsPAC/s...
x.com
x.com
January 31, 2025 at 11:38 AM
This is a link to the other place but its really important. As the Public Accounts Committee lays out here, the Ministry of Defence has failed to provide either the equipment plan to Parliament or information to the NAO to allow them to audit the equipment plan. x.com/CommonsPAC/s...
One aspect of the university funding crisis that isn't getting attention is its impact on other areas of policy making- its not just about universities. Take Cardiff's decision to close its nursing department for example- that will effect the supply of nurses to the NHS in Wales and the wider UK.
January 30, 2025 at 12:04 PM
One aspect of the university funding crisis that isn't getting attention is its impact on other areas of policy making- its not just about universities. Take Cardiff's decision to close its nursing department for example- that will effect the supply of nurses to the NHS in Wales and the wider UK.
Glen's right. Furthermore, this move seems part of a trend towards making the definition of a good research someone who fills in forms for funding well, not someone who actually does good research (the two things are almost completely different)
If we can't even break even on home student teaching and state-funded research, maybe we should just jettison both and run a property portfolio with a cafe attached. Because that's the system you've built, you stupid, stupid fools. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
MRC chief ‘listening’ as fears mount over funding overhaul - Research Professional News
Redundancies loom as Medical Research Council ends funding for research units and launches new model
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
January 23, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Glen's right. Furthermore, this move seems part of a trend towards making the definition of a good research someone who fills in forms for funding well, not someone who actually does good research (the two things are almost completely different)
I have a new article out with @aaileenm21.bsky.social and Laurence Ferry. We argue in the article that there needs to be a historical turn in the study of public sector audit- we base this on our own work on the history of the NAO and other scholarship www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Debate: Studying the regulatory space of public sector audit—the historical turn
Published in Public Money & Management (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
January 22, 2025 at 3:56 PM
I have a new article out with @aaileenm21.bsky.social and Laurence Ferry. We argue in the article that there needs to be a historical turn in the study of public sector audit- we base this on our own work on the history of the NAO and other scholarship www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....