ABSTRACT
A myth is a traditional narrative usually involving supernatural or imaginary persons and embodying popular ideas on natural or social phenomena (Concise Oxford Dictionary 1990). The British constitution is largely mythical. It is a narrative peopled with civil servants, politicians and judges blessed with a nature not typically human and a set of statements about ‘conventional behaviour’ which does not describe how people typically act. This chapter considers the nature of accountability of the civil service whose ‘chain of loyalty binds civil servants to Ministers, and Ministers to Parliament (constitutionally to the Crown in Parliament, but in terms of political reality to the House of Commons)’ (HC 92, 1985-86: para. 3.7). It examines the traditional narrative and explores the reality of accountability.
