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Broyd Papers
Industrial Policy, the Civil Service, & the Case for Open Government

By Dennis Broyd
Edited By Andrew Burchardt
December 1997
Spokesman
ISBN: 0-85124-602-8
84 pages, Illustrated, 6" x 8 ¼"
$18.50 paper original

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This collection of papers, written by Dennis Broyd, while he was a civil servant, throws a very interesting light on what actually happens in Whitehall and on the relationship between ministers, permanent secretaries, advisers and their staffs. There are so many myths surrounding this complex pattern of work and thought at the heart of government that it is sometimes hard to unravel it. The most conventional view is that all civil servants are completely neutral and throw themselves with enthusiasm into the task of translating the wishes of their political masters in a series of laws and regulations to put them into effect. By contrast, there are those on the left who believe that Labour ministers are regularly and successfully frustrated by the machinations of an essentially Tory civil service. It seems that the reality of the situation does not quite fit into either category, and the reasons merit some explanation.

Politics
Socialist Renewal, No. 13