Ministers Decide?

One of Margaret Thatcher’s best-known sayings was ‘Advisers advise, ministers decide’. It is a convenient re-telling of the Westminster myth that officials want decisive ministers. (Marsh et al. 2001, 141, 176). Nevertheless, the empirical work confirms the narrative: ‘as a minister, you make hundreds of decisions’, said David Gauke. ‘Probably in my time, I’ve made thousands of decisions’ (2020: 21).