The Mind of the Minister : Restoring trust between ministers and civil servants

Britain’s most important relationship, between civilservants and ministers, has reached breaking point. Drawing on interviews with formergovernment ministers and Permanent Secretaries – including Vince Cable,Caroline Flint, Rory Stewart, Philip Rutnam, Simon McDonald and Una O’Brien – TheMind of the Minister provides expert guidance and recommendations for howthis vital relationship can improve. Centuries of carefully built trust and mutual understandinghave been undermined and strained in recent years, not least by mismanagementat the highest level, a scorched-earth approach to constitutional norms and thetesting of civil service integrity. This relationship now needs urgentattention. Ministers, famously, begin the job with an hour’s noticeand 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 byreality, accountability and crises, as well as the distractions of promotion,demotion or a changing political landscape. Civil servants, on the other hand, serve the governmentof the day and remain in post while ministers come and go. They must be readyto adjust and impartially support a minister of any political persuasion orpersonality. How does this partnership really work in practice? How doboth sides adjust to the different chapters in a ministerial lifespan? Whathappens if rule makers become rule breakers without repercussions? Thiscompelling book lifts the curtain on the minister-civil servant partnership,highlighting that this crucial relationship must improve – for the sake of ourdemocracy.