When this was originally published in 1985, this was the first dispassionate, scholarly study of the British Civil Service as it had developed since the Fulton Report of 1986. The author discusses such controversial topics as the politicization of the Higher Civil Service, training and recruitment policies, the rise and fall of the Civil Service Department, Civil Service pay, the emergence of aggressive trade unionism and the strike of 1981. His analysis then provides the background to a critical evaluation of the Thatcher Government's attempts to cut down the size and influence of the Civil Service. The book remains a major contribution to and one of the finest pieces of research on the UK postwar civil service.