Tony Benn once said, “New ministers come in with very little knowledge and a great deal of energy – and leave with a great deal of knowledge and very little energy”.

***

What happens when the permanence of civil servants meets the fleeting tenure of ministers?

Join Tom Brown as he explores the stages of this relationship; the stability of the British civil service versus the transient nature of ministerial roles; the energetic beginnings, challenging middle phase, and often abrupt end of a minister’s career; and stories about Harriet Harman, Caroline Flint, and Rory Stewart that bring these dynamics to life.

You can preorder Tom’s new book, The Mind of the Minister: Restoring trust between ministers and civil servants today, out 28 November.

Music: Galactic Rap Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/