Book Reviews : "WHITEHALL" By Peter Hennessy. Secker & Warburg: 851 pages; £20 "WASHINGTON, WESTMINSTER AND WHITEHALL" By Walter Williams. Cambridge University Press: 233 pages; £25
| Published date | 01 December 1989 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207678900400307 |
| Author | Patrick Nairne |
| Date | 01 December 1989 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
48
Book
Reviews
"WHITEHALL"
By
Peter
Hennessy.
Secker
&
Warburg:
851
pages;
£20
"WASHINGTON,
WESTMINSTER
AND
WHITEHALL"
By
Walter
Williams.
Cambridge
University
Press:
233
pages;
£25
WHITEHALL
AND
WESTMINSTER -
A
CRITICAL
SURVEY
A
rare
event:
two
books
about
government
which
can
be
read
for
enjoyment.
Although
entirely
different
in
scope
and
style,
they
address
the
same
theme -
a
critical
survey
of
the
British
system
of
government
and,
in
particular,
of
the
higher
levels
of
the
civil
service.
In
a
short
challenging
book
Professor
Williams,
of
the
University
of
Washington,
applies
an
academic
analytical
eye,
confessing
at
the
outset :-
&dquo;I
am
highly
critical
of
British central
government
in
general
and
of
Prime
Minister
Margaret
Thatcher
in
particular.&dquo;
In
a
long
leisurely
volume
Mr.
Peter
Hennessy,
with
the
lively
touch
of
a
practised
journalist,
explores
the
character,
composition,
and
culture
of
Whitehall,
for
which
he
confesses,
for
his
part,
that
he
has
had
a
long-standing
&dquo;obsession&dquo;.
Williams
provides
an
admirable
basis for
a
weekend
seminar;
Hennessy
offers
a
book
for
the
bedside
as
well
as
grist
to
the
student’s
mill.
The
critical
thrust
of both
books
is
across
well
worn
ground -
the
economic
failure
of
successive
governments
and
the
decline
in
Britain’s
power
and
position
in
the
world.
Williams
blames
principally
institutional
arthritis
in
Westminster
and
Whitehall,
defects
in
ministerial
leadership,
and
a
lack
of
analytical
capacity
in
government.
Both
he
and
Hennessy
highlight
the
limitations
of
the
Civil
Service,
though
the
latter
is
ambivalent
about
making
it
a
national
scapegoat.
In
brief,
Williams
argues
for
radical
change
by
grafting
on
the
best
of
the
U.S.
system;
Hennessy
urges
a
transfusion
of
talent
from
outside
Whitehall
and
an
extension
of
the
Rayner
revolution
in
management.
Many
of
their
criticisms
are
justified.
As
one
whose
career
spanned
much
of
the
Hennessy
period,
I
accept
many
of
the
strictures,
and
some
of
the
recommendations,
relating
to
the
narrow
outlook
and
outdated
culture
which
qualifies
the
expertise
and
conscientiousness
of
many
civil
servants.
But
at
the
centre
of
their
challenge
to
Whitehall
and
Westminster,
there
is
a
fundamental
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