The Mind of the Minister

Drawing on interviews with former government ministers and Permanent Secretaries - including Vince Cable, Caroline Flint, Rory Stewart, Philip Rutnam, Simon McDonald and Una O'Brien - The Mind of the Minister provides expert guidance and recommendations for how this vital relationship can improve.

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Britain's most important relationship, between civil
servants and ministers, has reached breaking point. Centuries of carefully
built trust and mutual understanding have been undermined and strained in
recent years, not least by mismanagement at the highest level, a scorched-earth
approach to constitutional norms and the testing of civil service integrity. This
relationship now needs urgent attention.



Ministers, famously, begin the job with an hour's notice
and often know little about the department they've landed in. They bring
energy, drive and optimism for change, but over time, these ambitions can be
drowned by reality, accountability and crises, as well as the distractions of
promotion, demotion or a changing political landscape.



Civil servants, on the other hand, serve the government
of the day and remain in post while ministers come and go. They must be ready
to adjust and impartially support a minister of any political persuasion or
personality.



But how does this partnership really work in practice? How
do both sides adjust to the different chapters in a ministerial lifespan? What
happens if rule makers become rule breakers without repercussions?



Drawing on interviews with former government ministers
and Permanent Secretaries - including Vince Cable, Caroline Flint, Rory
Stewart, Philip Rutnam, Simon McDonald and Una O'Brien - The Mind of the
Minister provides expert guidance and recommendations for how this vital
relationship can improve. And improve it must, for the sake of our democracy.