Three steps Liz Truss's new ministers should take to hit the ground running 

Ministerial life can easily become a treadmill – and one set to a relentless pace. The first few weeks in the job are critical if ministers want the best chance of setting the direction of travel. Newly appointed junior ministers have had an introduction to government like no others before them – both those confirmed before the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, and those whose appointments were delayed by the subsequent period of national mourning. They have also seen the government shift the country’s economic course in a way which has shocked economists, commentators – and no doubt plenty of Conservative MPs.

But despite the extraordinary times in which they have started in their roles, there are still timeless lessons they can learn from the experiences of former ministers as they attempt to get to grips with their portfolios.  

New ministers must understand the brief and what they want to achieve 

Ministers often have no background in their new policy area, but are expected to make decisions straight away. Jacqui Smith remembered “a pretty short period of grace” to get on top of the brief in her first ministerial role in the Department for Education and Employment – Ben Bradshaw felt it lasted for about the first 48 hours in the job as culture secretary.  

Meeting with experienced officials and stakeholders can be a good way to figure out the lay of the land. James Brokenshire said that briefings from the civil service were “pivotal” but emphasised the “need to go out and see and meet as many people as you possibly can in that opening period”. Nicky Morgan found it helpful to talk to her predecessor.  

Digesting key information before making decisions is crucial to avoid early missteps – Ken Clarke, a veteran of many cabinet posts, counselled resisting pressure to do anything until “you have really got your head around and you want to do it.” But former ministers also stressed the need to set out priorities as soon as possible. In Sam Gyimah’s opinion, “Getting well briefed is fine, but it’s really about identifying what the priorities are… the real challenges that are there, that are political.” Jacqui Smith felt her most successful experiences as a minister came when she “took advantage of that period of time [at the start of a new role] to say, ‘The priorities I’m really interested in are x and y’, before those things get imposed on you”. 

Our interviews with former ministers underline the importance of sticking to a few, focused priorities and communicating them clearly to officials. Justine Greening’s experience was that “when civil servants are clear on what the overall ambition is” they can be more proactive in helping ministers to achieve it.  

New ministers need to work out how to make government processes work for them 

New ministers receive a good overview of the work of the department, but little guidance on how to go about the job – as Ed Vaizey put it, “they give you no tutoring at all on being a minister”. In order to get things done, newcomers need to understand how government works. On a basic level, that means getting to grips with official processes, for which a minister’s first port of call should be civil servants in their private office. Caroline Spelman remembered that “one of the things the Principal Private Secretary had to do in the early days and weeks was actually explain what we had to do, because no-one had explained that to us.” 

In turn, ministers need to communicate clearly to civil servants how they would like to work in order to be most effective. Departments work to ministers, not the other way around. New health secretary Thérèse Coffey was criticised for caring about the Oxford comma, but it is encouraging that she has considered and conveyed to officials her working preferences. As Stephen Hammond advised, “You’ve got to take a view on how your private office runs. It’s one of the things that’s going to make you more effective.” That means taking control of what goes in the ministerial diary – Stephen Crabb recommended being “clear about what the meetings are there for and what is expected at the end of them.” Ministers should also ensure that the advice they need to make decisions is provided in a format that works for them, whether that’s setting a maximum length for submissions or adjusting the invite list for briefing meetings. 

New ministers should build strong relationships that will help them achieve their aims 

So much of politics is about relationships. Working with other ministers, special advisers and officials to broker decisions within and across departments will prove vital to avoid blockages and make progress on their priorities, so a new minister should identify who they need to work with and their respective aims and incentives. Kitty Ussher, who held several ministerial roles under New Labour, felt that particularly as a junior minister “you’ve only got partial sight, you’ve only got partial influence and actually sometimes, you just really need to understand what your role is in the team.” 

That also means keeping up connections beyond Whitehall. Theresa Villiers warned that engaging with external experts and stakeholders “becomes rather more difficult in government”. It can also be easy to neglect parliamentary contacts upon becoming a minister, but relationships with backbenchers may prove instrumental in building support for proposals and steering through legislation. 

With the cost-of-living crisis to deal with and just two years until the next election, Liz Truss vowed to hit the ground running as prime minister – and she used her speech at this year's Conservative conference to repeat her emphasis on delivery. She will now hope that a fractious few days in Birmingham will be followed by a period of – relative – calm in which she can get on with the job. Whatever the next few weeks bring, this is a crucial moment for her new ministers to make sense of their new roles and establish their ways of working before the treadmill of government takes over.