Government as a business

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): This morning on the Today programme, Lin Homer, who is Chief Executive of the Home Office's Border and Immigration Agency referred initially to her agency as a "service" and then, three times referred to it as a "business" and herself as its "boss". You can hear it at the end of the packet here. In principle I support the creation of executive agencies where the person running it takes responsibility for their executive actions and does not hide away like a civil servant unable to speak in public. But this does not, and should not, mean the liquidation of a public service ethos. The shift of language here is very dangerous for democracy, see Mike Rustin's recent post.