Ministers as public relations consultants for the real governent
Antony Jay writes in London'as Daily Telegraph on a new six part Yes Minister serial he has written with Jonathan Lynn that is about to premiere on television in the UK
Return to Westminster - Telegraph:
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Return to Westminster - Telegraph:
"... something we discovered: deep in their hearts, most politicians respected civil servants, and deep in their hearts most civil servants despised politicians. Part of the problem of government is that ministers always take the credit for successes, which focuses civil servants on avoiding blame. The central anomaly is that civil servants have years of experience, jobs for life, and a budget of hundreds of billions of pounds, while ministers have, usually, little or no experience of the job and could be kicked out tomorrow. After researching and writing 44 episodes and a play, I find government much easier to understand by looking at ministers as public relations consultants to the real government – which is, of course, the Civil Service."
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