Management Consultancy and the British State

Antonio E. Weiss is a management writer and advisor. He is a Director at 2020 Delivery, one of the United Kingdom’s leading public service management consultancy firms. He has written for a number of publications, including the Financial Times, Guardian, Prospect, and been featured on BBC Radio 4 and other international media. He received his PhD in History from Birkbeck, University of London. He is also an elected local government councillor in a London borough in the UK.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Planning, 1960s-1970s.- 3. Reorganising, 1970s: The 1974 National Health Service Reorganisation and McKinsey & Company.- 4. Automating, 1980s: Arthur Andersen and the Operational Strategy.- 5. Delivering, 1990s-2000s.- 6. Conclusions.

“Antonio Weiss, himself a management consultant with 2020 Delivery, points out in his new and important book, academics have hitherto had ‘relatively little to say about the use of management consultants by the state’. The few researchers who have strayed into this area have adopted a simplistic viewpoint rather than an enquiring mind. … Weiss has unearthed many more of the facts and turned his research into a compelling narrative.” (Alan Leaman, CSW Civil Service World, civilserviceworld.com, July 23, 2019)