The ambassador to the USA was forced to resign. His frank assessment was made public and rather than support him and risk offending a powerful ally his political boss ( to be ) threw him under the bus. The parallels with local government are striking.

Officers like civil servants are expected to provide impartial advice rather than tell politicians what they want to hear, that means spelling out the cons of proposals to contract out services not just identifying the pros. That means drawing attention to the  implications of cutting services not simply identify the savings and minimising the impact. It means giving 'unvarnished' assessments of proposed partners or contractors even where members have made it clear who they would prefer to do business with.