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Introduction

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The End of Whitehall?

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Abstract

This introductory chapter outlines the book’s conceptual framework, clarifies the intellectual terrain, and then maps the period in which the traditional civil service model has allegedly been eclipsed. The chapter begins by addressing the origins of the Whitehall ‘paradigm’. The chapter then turns to the recent history of Whitehall reform through to the Conservative governments of David Cameron and Theresa May. Finally, the chapter considers the remorseless rise of the ‘New Political Governance’ (NPG) as the autonomy and independence of Whitehall’s bureaucrats was assailed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The arguments in this monograph draw on my recently published research paper in Public Policy and Administration: ‘The Westminster System under the Cameron coalition: ‘Promiscuous partisanship’ or institutional resilience?’ 7th November 2017.

  2. 2.

    Throughout I refer to the British state bureaucracy well aware that since the advent of devolution in the late 1990s, there are separate civil service functions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The book is focused on the UK-wide administrative tradition predominantly concentrated in Whitehall.

  3. 3.

    Aucoin was referring to the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

  4. 4.

    https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/140116-0001.htm Accessed 6th February 2018.

  5. 5.

    https://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2011/03/david_cameron_versus_civil_service Accessed 12th December 2017.

  6. 6.

    http://www.civilservant.org.uk/library/1996_Armstrong_Memorandum.pdf Accessed 6th February 2018.

  7. 7.

    https://www.civilserviceworld.com/profile-peter-hennessy Accessed 15th December 2017.

  8. 8.

    It is worth noting that a number of civil servants who were employed in the Attlee Government in 1945 such as Hugh Gaitskell, Douglas Jay and Harold Wilson subsequently became elected Members of Parliament and Government Ministers.

  9. 9.

    https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-civil-service-and-the-constitution Accessed 19th December 2017.

  10. 10.

    R. Skidelsky http://www.skidelskyr.com/site/article/the-british-tradition-of-administration/ Accessed 4 December 2017.

  11. 11.

    https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/making-better-use-evidence-government Accessed 18th January 2018.

  12. 12.

    http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-lessons-of-tony-benn-as-a-cabinet-minister-breaking-the-rules-and-paying-the-price/ Accessed 7th February 2018.

  13. 13.

    https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-civil-service-and-the-constitution Accessed 19th December 2017.

  14. 14.

    https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-civil-service-and-the-constitution Accessed 19th December 2017.

  15. 15.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/apr/09/Whitehall.uk Accessed 19th December 2017.

  16. 16.

    The term ‘sofa government’ referred to the growing tendency under the Blair governments for decisions to be taken informally by covert networks of Ministers and political advisers rather than through the formal proceedings of the Cabinet.

  17. 17.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9339642/The-Civil-Service-reforms-are-too-little-too-late.html Accessed 14th December 2017.

  18. 18.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9339642/The-Civil-Service-reforms-are-too-little-too-late.html Accessed 14th December 2017.

  19. 19.

    https://www.britac.ac.uk/sites/default/files/13-wilson.pdf Accessed 21st December 2017.

  20. 20.

    https://www.civilserviceworld.com/articles/opinion/sir-leigh-lewis-so-whitehalls-fighting-back-good-–-civil-service-shouldnt-be Accessed 21st November 2017.

  21. 21.

    Interview with Whitehall Think-Tank Director, 30th September 2016.

  22. 22.

    Interview with a former departmental permanent secretary, 6th April 2018.

  23. 23.

    http://www.civilserviceworld.com/articles/news/cabinet-office-minister-francis-maude-you-dont-need-be-mp-do-my-job Accessed 18th October 2016.

  24. 24.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9269823/The-Civil-Service-comes-under-fire-from-the-Coalition-but-bashing-the-bureaucrats-can-only-backfire.html Accessed 18th December 2017.

  25. 25.

    http://www.bettergovernmentinitiative.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Civil-Service-final.pdf Accessed 18th December 2017.

  26. 26.

    Interview with a departmental special adviser, 20th October 2016.

  27. 27.

    That said, in the case of the Prisons’ Agency and the Home Secretary, Michael Howard in the early 1990s, the Ministers attempt to escape blame for breaches of prison security did significant damage to his political career.

  28. 28.

    Interview with former Head of the Number Ten Policy Unit, 17th February 2011.

  29. 29.

    A series of semi-structured interviews were carried out from September 2016 to April 2018. A further seven interviews that inform this book were undertaken from 2011 to 2013. Interviewees consisted of former Cabinet Secretaries , three permanent secretaries, two former special advisers, and a variety of senior civil servants in Whitehall departments. The interviews were conducted under the Chatham House Rule. All of the sources are kept anonymous.

  30. 30.

    http://qmulcgl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/why-cant-ministers-and-senior-servants.html Accessed 6th February 2018.

  31. 31.

    Quoted in http://www.civilservant.org.uk/index.html#reform Accessed 2nd February 2018.

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  1. School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Patrick Diamond

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Diamond, P. (2019). Introduction. In: The End of Whitehall?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96101-9_1

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