Fascinating bit of history. The size of the Home Office particularly caught my eye. Government staffs continued being tiny for much longer, in the US at least. E.g., FDR had six assistants (and this was considered extravagant); in Congress, the War and Navy committees had one single permanent staffer apiece during WWII. I would guess things were similar in the UK?
I wonder if there's any real need for such vast bureaucracies today. We could certainly use energetic reformers like Peele today, and perhaps organizational sclerosis prevents us from getting men like him.
Fascinating bit of history. The size of the Home Office particularly caught my eye. Government staffs continued being tiny for much longer, in the US at least. E.g., FDR had six assistants (and this was considered extravagant); in Congress, the War and Navy committees had one single permanent staffer apiece during WWII. I would guess things were similar in the UK?
I wonder if there's any real need for such vast bureaucracies today. We could certainly use energetic reformers like Peele today, and perhaps organizational sclerosis prevents us from getting men like him.