Civil servants
Sir: Sir William Armstrong says that 'the chief danger to which politicians and Ministers are ex- posed is not, as is often supposed, that obstructive bureaucrats will drag their feet in implementing their schemes, but that their own optimism will carry them into schemes and policies which will subsequently be seen to fail'.
There is another danger, less often remarked on. It is that per- manent civil servants, with their long training in compliance—and especially those, not altogether ex- ceptional in the higher reaches, who have attained to senior rank by a greater show of ductility than most—may be so anxious to please that Ministers are not faced even with those consequences of their actions which are perceptible to civil servants. It is indeed an in- herent weakness of the top struc- tures in Whitehall that careers are made by prominent compliance with the whims of Ministers, and the best men are those who are willing always to be in the fashion of the moment. It is very rare indeed for relationships between Ministers and officials to continue long enough for results achieved to play any great part in the estimation. The effect of this is that management, in any serious sense, hardly enters into the White- hall scene above a certain level. Some years ago I wrote a book which discussed British admini- stration in terms of response to whatever was being loudly enough asked for by the agitating public, however foolish that might be. The Fulton report—a page out of a fashion magazine, if ever a report could be so described—and the proliferation of management services and training since then, are examples of this phenomenon and only the unwary will suppose that they necessarily have much hearing on the management of Whitehall.
C. II. Sisson 92 Westboume Terrace. London w2
Sir: My friends and I have read the article in your last issue, 'Per- manent Civil Servants and tem- porary politicians', by Sir William Armstrong, the Head of the Home Civil Service, with bewilderment. We are bewildered because although we admired the force of his arguments and applauded the nobility of his sentiments about outside appointments to the Civil Service. until now Sir William seems to have kept these opinions to himself. His own department, the Civil Service. Department, and Whitehall in general, have made it only too clear on some occasions that they do not share these views.
Sir William has reached the top of Olympus but if he looked down he might notice some of his frailer brethren standing still on the nursery slopes. They are standing still because of seemingly perman- ent obstacles left behind by. the previous administration — tempor- ary political appointees.
D. Saxon 291a West End Road, South Ruislip, Middlesex
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