ABSTRACT
While the previous chapter concentrated on relationships between politicians and bureaucrats at the very highest levels of the Whitehall machine, this one turns to the broader administrative operations of the state and to the many attempts to reform it, especially in the past 25 years. The traditional model of the Civil Service is examined first, then the ways the Conservative governments of Thatcher and Major changed the system between 1979 and 1997. The chapter finishes with an account of how New Labour has adopted, adapted or dropped Conservative reforms.
