Ministers play a critical role in our democracy. Their decisions define the national interest. They are responsible for running important portfolio areas, even though they’re unlikely to have professional expertise in that area. And they make complex long-term decisions that balance often strongly competing views, often using an incomplete evidence base.

As anyone with experience in government knows, developing policy is a complex, contested process with many uncertainties and vagaries. Worthy policy ideas long in development and thoughtful in design are often left on the cutting room floor, while other ideas emerge with little thought or planning seemingly from nowhere. From the perspective of an outsider, the process can look like madness.