Two more days are scheduled for strike action, adding to the Foreign Secretary's woes in his new role

Ed Miliband has been hit with a civil servant walkout just days after taking over the Foreign Office.

Whitehall workers have been bristling with fury ever since plans were announced to downsize their department.

Last year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) set out plans to axe between 15 and 25 per cent from its workforce over the course of the next four years.

With top mandarins threatening to axe 2,000 roles from the bloated department, junior staff have fought back via a series of strike actions in the very first week of Mr Miliband's tenure as Foreign Secretary.

The FCDO began strike action on Wednesday and will take off August 23 and August 26 as well, with the Bank Holiday just around the corner.

On the strike action, Fran Heathcote, the PCS General Secretary, said: "Strike action is always a last resort, but FCDO management has left our members with no choice.

"It is unacceptable that a Government department is pushing ahead with a major restructure while refusing to give workers the basic assurance that they will not be forced out of their jobs.

"Our members deserve transparency, fairness and respect. Instead, they have been met with uncertainty and a refusal to provide the information needed to properly scrutinise these plans.

"The department could end this dispute today by doing the right thing – rule out compulsory redundancies and engage meaningfully with PCS."

Back in 2020, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development were merged to create the FCDO.

As it stands, the department has a headcount total which is 1,614 larger than the total headcount of the two separate departments from six years ago.

The Conservatives have heaped pressure onto the Government to reduce the size of bloated Civil Service departments to 2016 levels - many of whom are accused of dodging office attendance.

Civil servants are required to attend the office two or three days a week, depending on the department.

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Sir Mel Stride, the Shadow Chancellor, said the union's challenge to Mr Miliband was one of "his own making".

He said: "The number of civil servants is going up, not down – yet another broken promise from Labour who have made it much harder to reduce numbers by increasing the power of trade unions to strike.

"Only the Conservatives have a serious plan to return the size of the Civil Service to 2016 levels, saving the taxpayer £8billion and ensuring value for money."

Meanwhile, an FCDO spokesman said: "We respect the right of PCS members to take strike action and remain open to further talks.

"Consultation has been ongoing since the autumn and contingency plans are in place across affected business areas to minimise disruption.

He confirmed the department was undergoing a "strategic transformation" to allow it to work in an "increasingly complex and volatile world".

Mr Miliband has received plenty of retaliation following his appointment as Foreign Secretary on Monday.

US officials have cast doubt on whether the former Energy Secretary will be able to prop up Britain's relationship with Donald Trump's team in his new post.

Back in 2016, the former Labour leader, who slinked back to the backbenches after resigning from the top job, condemned Conservatives who welcomed the US President's first electoral victory against Hillary Clinton.

"The idea that we have shared values with a racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper beggars belief," he said.

"This guy’s anti-trade. He’s an odd combination of protectionism plus the old trickle-down tax cut formula that has got us into a lot of this mess in the first place."

In response to the resurfaced comments, current US Ambassador Warren Stephens said: "People’s view of President Trump in 2016 is probably a lot different than what it is now in 2026.

"I would suspect his views have changed on President Trump, but I haven’t talked to him about that."

"There's genuine anger about this appointment," one White House source told The Independent, adding the President "will not forget" Mr Miliband's unforgiving criticism of him.

Now, the former Labour leader has been tasked with soothing over heated tensions with Mr Trump, whose allies said there was "some serious diplomatic repair to undertake".

"Ed Miliband is known in Washington for all the wrong reasons," one US official added.