As ministers and officials unwind the hoses, scale the ladders and firefight Whitehall's bonuses and tax-dodging blaze, it's worth considering how things got to the state where the Treasury is investigating the pay deals of more than 4,000 senior civil servants.

Column regulars may be unsurprised to learn that the origins of this present-day disaster can be traced to work undertaken in the1980s by Margaret Thatcher's efficiency guru – then Marks & Spencer's chief executive, Derek Rayner. The ‘Blue Baron' was keen to overhaul what were seen as hidebound civil service traditions of time-serving, ‘Buggins turn' and shrinking timidity by grafting a vibrant culture of modern-day performance management.