As a lifetime civil servant I have always felt a strong obligation to vote whenever presented with the opportunity. This seems to me a civic duty, and working closely with politicians gave me every incentive to have my say. The civil service code is very clear about the need for impartiality and I would never give anything less than my best to whichever party won the general election.

To their credit I should make it clear that no politician ever asked me how I voted in any election. Perhaps they knew I would not have told them or I like to think they felt it was as irrelevant as I did.

On leaving the civil service I was appointed to the Lords and have chosen