This book is the official history of British Cabinet Secretaries, the most senior civil servants in UK government, from the post-war period up to 2002.

In December 1916 Maurice Hankey sat at the Cabinet table to take the first official record of Cabinet decisions. Prior to this there had been no formal Cabinet agenda and no record of Cabinet decisions. Using authoritative government papers, some of which have not yet been released for public scrutiny, this book tells the story of Hankey's post-war successors as they advised British Prime Ministers and recorded Cabinet's crucial decisions as the country struggled through the exhaustion that followed World War II, grappled with a weak economy that could not support its world ambitions, saw the end of the post-war economic and social consensus and faced the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers symbol of Western dominance. It looks at events through the eyes of politically neutral senior civil servants, the mandarins of Britain. It shows how the dramatic foreshortening of timescales and global news have complicated the working lives of those who daily face the deluge of potentially destabilising events - the skills required to see dangers and opportunities around corners, when to calm things down and when to accelerate action; why secrecy is endemic when government comes close to losing control or when political ambition threatens self-destruction.

This book will be of great interest to students of British politics, British history and British government.

About the Author
Ian Beesley served in the Cabinet Office, H.M. Treasury and 10 Downing Street, where he was Head of the Efficiency Unit under Margaret Thatcher, and he has a PhD in History from Queen Mary University of London.

Reviews

'Ian Beesley has had unprecedented access to the files of half-a-dozen of Whitehall's ultimate men of secrets, the Cabinet Secretaries -- the powerful yet elusive figures at the elbows of successive prime ministers. His pages brim with knowledge of who they were, how they did their job and all set in the wider political context of their time in office. Anyone interested in how British government works will learn heaps from this book.'-- Peter Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London

'In preparing the authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher, I have been struck by how much modern Prime Ministers owe to the Cabinet Secretary of the day. Yet the public know very little about these people, what they do, and how much good government depends upon their wisdom and cool judgment. Now, thanks to this book, with its full use of official records, we all have the chance to find out.'-- Charles Moore, author of Margaret Thatcher: The Authorised Biography

'In the 100-year existence of the Cabinet Office there have been just 11 Cabinet Secretaries and little is known about their role, styles and influence. That gap has now been filled by this detailed account of the post-war years to 2002.' -- Gus O'Donnell, Cabinet Secretary, 2005-11

'Beesley ends with a fascinating counterfactual. Would Richard Wilson's influence have grown rather than shrunk if he had accepted Blair's offer to head a combined Downing Street and cabinet office team? Yes it would. In fact I'd go further. If he had said 'yes', I think the country and the civil service would have been better off.'--Ferdinand Mount, The Spectator

'the [book] a mighty 700 pages covering the six men who held the post between 1947 and 2002, is packed with the kind of detail that will be invaluable to anyone interested in the history of Whitehall.'-Sue Cameron, Prospect magazine

Book Information
ISBN 9781138493483
Author Ian Beesley
Format Paperback
Page Count 736
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g