ABSTRACT
In the competition I took in 1946 to enter the Civil Service, the candidates were asked to give their reasons for applying. Most of us gave fairly conventional answers, but one, perhaps a little less orthodox with his background in the commandos, said quite simply 'to stop the worst excesses of the Labour Government'. The constitutional niceties of this remark, and - taking a rather wider canvas - the role of the Civil Service in helping to deliver efficient and responsive government, are the questions I shall be considering in this lecture.
