A close examination of the ethics of higher civil servants in Britain and how they have been undermined by recent developments in public administration.

Barry O'Toole tackles key questions such as:

• how should public servants behave?
• how should they be encouraged to think ethically?
• how should they be motivated to do so?

Focusing on the role of public service, public duty and the public interest in the twenty-first century, O’Toole answers these important questions and looks at the emergence of ‘new public management’, the increasingly important role of 'special advisers' and the decline of the public service ethos under New Labour.

The Ideal of Public Service explores some of the key contributions to the development of ideas about public service in the context of British central administration and provides a discussion of recent trends in administrative practice in the UK. Combining political theory and an analysis of the history and development of the civil service, this timely book will be of strong interest to those researching British Politics, Governance and Public Policy.