How do ministers approach leadership in government?

From housing to aviation, the digital economy to patient safety, ministers have a huge range of responsibilities. Yet little is known about how different ministers approach their roles and the reasons for these differences.

How do ministers make decisions? How do they work with the civil service and devise policy? And how do they manage their teams? Dr John Boswell and Dr Jessica Smith of the University of Southampton, drawing on the Institute for Government’s Ministers Reflect archive, have identified different patterns in the way ministers work and seek to lead the civil service - and the different approaches taken by men and women serving in ministerial roles.

To discuss their findings, and how this can help future ministers and civil servants:

• Dr John Boswell, Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Southampton
• Dr Jessica Smith, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Southampton
• Margot James, former minister at DCMS and BEIS and MP for Stourbridge, 2010-19
• Dame Una O’Brien, former permanent secretary, Department of Health

This event was chaired by Tim Durrant, Associate Director at the Institute for Government.

#IfGministers

We would like to thank the University of Southampton and the ESRC for supporting this event.

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