This is the first comprehensive examination of the Labour Administration's approach to the Civil Service. Based on an original account of power relations between the Government, Whitehall and the wider policy-making arena, and drawing on evidence compiled from over three hundred interviews by the author, it provides a unique insight into the approach to governing of the Labour Administration. It explores a variety of themes: the influence of Third Way thinking on Labour's approach to governing; the 1997 transition process; the extent to which Whitehall has been politicised; and the effectiveness of Labour's reforms in improving policy delivery. The book concludes by arguing that claims about the end of the Whitehall model and the emergence of a differentiated polity should be treated with caution. Richards demonstrates that Labour's reforms can be understood as an attempt to reconstitute the Westminster Model and sustain the asymmetric position of the core executive in the policy-making arena.

'This text is the first comprehensive assessment of the Labour government's approach to the civil service and is based on an original account of the power relationship between the government, Whitehall and the wider policy community...This is a first-class book that should be of interest to anyone with an academic interest in governance and or British politics. It should have a place in good academic libraries for decades to come.' - Michael Cole, Political Studies Review

Introduction
Labour and the Civil Service: Governing in the Shadow of the Westminster Model
Theorising Whitehall: Labour's Response to the Conservative Inheritance
Transition in Government
Labour and the Civil Service: From Managerialism to a Reconstituted Westminster Model
The Core Executive under Labour: Politicising Whitehall?
Conclusion: Labour and the Civil Service - Reconstituting the Westminster Model

DAVID RICHARDS is a Reader in Politics at the University of Sheffield, UK. He has held posts at the Universities of Strathclyde, Birmingham and Liverpool and had a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Sydney. He is the author of various books on British politics and public policy including in this series: Changing Patterns of Governance in the United Kingdom (with David Marsh and Martin J. Smith).