Because I work for the British government I have to be officially neutral on all sorts of things that other people have strong views about. This is because our civil service is supposed to be impartial, and able to serve governments of whatever colour. Politicians come and go, but we stay in place forever. For example I remember the son of a previous Home Secretary ringing me up to ask for my opinions on the use of drugs and I had to stonewall him all the way.

Sometimes civil servants find there is a government policy they can't live with. Then the decent thing is to resign quietly. Others take direct action. Possibly the most famous is Clive Ponting, who leaked a very embarrassing document about British action in the Falklands during the war in the early 1980s. He was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. But even though the judge directed that as a matter of law Ponting had committed a crime, the jury acquitted him | showing that they took a different view of what they saw as whistleblowing.

Relations between civil servants and Ministers do need regulating in some way. Reformers have been calling for a Civil Service Act for years. But in the past few days, the Prime Minister made it clear that he didn't want one, and actually thought it would do more harm than good.

I suppose I'm fortunate that I'm a fairly laid back kind of girl (no not that laid back thank you) and I can live with most government policies. That doesn't mean I'm without opinions. In my ideal world I would abolish the monarchy and introduce an elected president. Also in my ideal world there would be a Tranny Party that existed to promote the cause of trannies. Probably under the slogan of Equal Clothing Rights for Everyone.

I would have problems, though, if the current Labour Government became even more conservative in its social morality and started to limit the rights of trannies even further. It's actually quite difficult to target a group that's as low profile as we are. But actions against gays or lesbians would indirectly hurt us too | for example banning the Pride marches.

I wonder if there are any other trannies out there who work for the British government?

I used to work for the Misistry of Defence until a few months ago and know that there are a lot of trannies in the civil service and forces. The MOD has a policy where all types of sexuality have to be accepted. Sounds great until you come out of the closet as a tranny. Suddenly you are worse than gays. My position got that bad that I resigned from my post in central London - not because of bigotry in my building but because my line manager, located in a country establishment, could not accept the fact that any male should prefer wearing feminine clothes.
The fact that I was a tranny also came out when I was interviewed by Jobcentreplus as to why I was unemployed. Although they were sympathetic they did request that on signing on day I wore male clothes only.

I know there are lots of tranvestites working as civil servants for the UK Government but most will remain hidden in the closet.

June