The Growth of Government: The Development of Ideas about the Role of the State and the Machinery and Functions of Government in Britain since 1789

The growth of government is arguably the most important political phenomenon in the development of modern Britain. Originally published in 1979, this book relates changing ideas about what the state should do to what government has come to do and relates them all to the machinery available. The book covers the period from 1780 to the late twentieth century. This illuminating analysis considers the ideas of economists and political philosophers that have been an important influence in creating the climate of opinion about what the role of the State should be. This book was unique in covering the period from Adam Smith to Keynes as a whole, and studying it from this perspective.

The book also examines the development of the machinery of government in Britain over the past 200 years in relation to its functions and against the background of the preceding consideration of changing ideas about the role of the state. The ‘traditional’ functions of government (such as law and order, defence, conduct of foreign policy and imperial management) are examined fully, as they can be seen as a base line from which to measure change. Most attention is given to the machinery and functions of government in relation to the economy and social provision, because these are the main areas of controversy about the role of the state, and where changes in that role have been most marked.

Emeritus Professor Geoffrey K. Fry who died in 2023 spent his career at the University of Leeds in the field of British Government and Administration having studied for his doctorate at the LSE. A prolific author of nine books and over forty papers, he is perhaps best known for his highly successful book Statesmen in Disguise (1969), a study of the Administrative Class of the UK Civil Service from 1853 to 1966, that became the standard history of the Higher Civil Service.

He followed up with The Growth of Government (1979) which looked at the development of the role of the state, machinery and function of government since 1780. The timing of the publication, appropriately enough, aligning with the arrival of Thatcherism and the associated reform agenda.

Through books such as The Administrative ‘Revolution’ in Whitehall, The Changing Civil Service (1985), Reforming the Civil Service (1993) and Policy and Management in the British Civil Service (1995); Fry explores a range of themes including the machinery of government, the changes to ministerial responsibilities, the reform agenda, management effectiveness and the post war super-ministries. In his later works, Fry published a trio of titles about British political history covering the period of 1931 to 1990 entitled The Politics of Crisis (2001), The Politics of Decline (2005), The Politics of the Thatcher Revolution (2008).

Across his academic research and writing Fry drew on his working class upbringing and experience of working in the Civil Service. His background and life experience was one of the reasons for his non-conformist perspective. A rigorous researcher and meticulous academic, he frequently sought out insights from the rank and file Civil Servants through digesting their own association publications rather than solely focusing on the Whitehall elite.

Fry consistently wrote against the prevailing academic viewpoint of the time particularly in the analysis of Civil Service reform and their effectiveness, or lack thereof. He often credited this ability to not being aligned with a particular political tribe which gave him the freedom to write on his own terms.

He used his talent of being able to talk to anyone and his engaging matter to find political gems in the most unlikely of places. Famously quizzing the University of Leeds cleaners on who they thought would win the 1992 UK General Election. The cleaners got it right unlike the leading political scientists of the day.