Pat Samuels, with a career and experience spanning 26 years departed the Cabinet Office today to take early retirement. One of a number of senior civil servants who have also opted for an early exit.
Pat has been nothing less than brilliant, leaving the treasury to join, support and perhaps even lead the civil society movement through her often too subtle role within the CO. Colleagues, friends and her husband joined the massed ranks of everything that is good in civil society to say thank you to Pat.
Whilst the Voluntary and Community Sector praised her with warm rhetoric it was the social enterprise movement that moved from rhetoric to delivering the goods; in this case the goods were treats from Jamie’s Fifteen restaurant. Oven gloves, an apron and a fab bottle of rose were presented in recognition of Pat’s work in helping shape the social enterprise policy agenda.
It was good to see Stephen Bubb there, and Stuart Etherington with the NCVO posse, but the event was severely lacking in ministerial representation, which Pat should have clearly commanded. A good night, but unfortunately it was as subtle and as low key as Pat would have wanted, but surely didn’t deserve.
