A Civil Servant in the
UK is a member of the
Civil Service. They tend to be the
elite of the country and are drafted from
Oxbridge a lot of the time (though many
candidates come from the other brilliant
universities in the
UK. They're all good really). Often they hold very influential positions in
government giving advice to the
Ministers on an issue. This is why they are useful to
pressure groups since they are able to directly affect decisions made.
There are many people designated as Civil Servants such as people who run the National Theatres and also National Galleries.