The politicisation of the UK Civil Service: Causes, manifestations, and evolutions

The UK civil service is shaped by three principles – permanency, impartiality and integrity. These principles explain the recurring tensions between the civil service and their ministers, who are ultimately accountable for the civil service. Since the early 1980s, UK governments have sought to reform the civil service to make it more compliant with their short term political agendas. Attempts at weakening the civil service leads to political conflicts taking a range of expressions: 1) political rhetoric from ministers about the quality and intentions of civil servants; 2) the terms and conditions of employment for civil servants; 3) competition from special advisers; 4) political control of senior appointments by the executive, and 5) being asked to carry out tasks which by their nature are highly politically contentious, such as writing reports on controversial subjects of intense public interest. The overall result of this tension seems to backfire, however. Politicians are increasingly little trusted by the UK citizens, while the guarantees of permanency, impartiality and integrity seem to bear their fruit in producing civil servants able and willing to stand their ground against political expediency.