ABSTRACT
The chapter next considers what this meant in terms of the restructuring of the relationship at the outset of the NPM movement. It examines the ways by which
prime ministers and their governments in the Westminster systems sought both to reassert political leadership and control over the public service and to improve public management. These ways included:
strengthening the corporate centre of government; strengthening the political arm of government in the form of political staff; controlling the staffing of the senior public service; establishing a more explicit set of mechanisms for distinguishing between policy and administration to put ministers in better control; and requiring public service managers to focus on the management of their resources and operations as well as to accept personal accountability for their performance in delivering to expectations.
