Following Dugdale's resignation, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, Home Secretary at the time, distinguished between four different situations, thereby arguably modifying the traditional convention.

1. Where there is an explicit order made by a minister, in which case the minister must protect the civil servant who has carried out his order.
2. When the civil servant acts properly in accordance with policy laid down by the minister, in which case the minister must protect the civil servant.
3. Where an official makes a mistake or causes some delay, but not on an important issue of policy.
4. Where a civil servant has taken the action, of which the minister disapproved and has no prior knowledge and the conduct of the official is reprehensible.

In the first two situations, Maxwell Fyfe believed that the minister should resign. In the remaining two he believed that the minister need not do so