What business leaders misunderstand about government

For many business leaders, government can feel distant, slow-moving and difficult to navigate. Jimmy McLoughlin’s experience inside Downing Street offers a different perspective, one that reveals just how fast-moving, resource-constrained and reactive the centre of power can be.

When a new prime minister takes office, McLoughlin likens the process to building a company at speed. “There is an element of it being like a scale-up; they have to find people that they know and trust,” he explains. That immediacy creates both opportunity and risk. Teams are small, information is fragmented and decisions are often made under intense pressure. For those outside government, it is a useful reminder that influence is rarely about formal structures alone.

Inside Number 10, the reality is far from expansive. “The number 10 team is quite a small team, 25 to 30 special advisers. The whole building itself is only 200 people,” McLoughlin says. Compared to large organisations, that is a limited capacity to manage vast complexity. It helps explain why engagement with business, while valued, can be inconsistent. Time, rather than intent, is often the constraint.

That pressure shapes how decisions are made. One of McLoughlin’s core responsibilities was acting as “an early warning system of things that could go wrong”. Much of that insight came not from formal reports, but from scanning business signals, media coverage, conversations with executives and emerging trends. It underlines a broader truth: in fast-moving environments, anticipating issues early is often more valuable than reacting perfectly later.

The relationship between government and business is, in his words, “paramount but not very straightforward”. Both sides depend on each other, yet often misunderstand each other’s constraints. Business leaders want access and clarity. Government teams are juggling competing priorities, political pressures and limited time. Even simple initiatives, such as regular meetings, are difficult to sustain. The prime minister’s schedule alone leaves little room for consistent engagement.

When interactions do happen, they carry weight. “Don’t underestimate the sort of respect that business leaders have for the prime minister,” McLoughlin notes. But respect does not always translate into alignment. Conversations can quickly become dominated by immediate crises, crowding out longer-term thinking. During Brexit, he observed that “so little of it was about the kind of right positivity, it felt like we were all very focused on whatever the next vote was”.

This tension reflects a broader challenge. The mechanisms for representing business have evolved. Traditional bodies still have influence, but “they aren’t the voice of business anymore” in an era of direct communication and fragmented channels. For leaders, that means engagement is more diffuse, and potentially more accessible, but also less predictable.

Beyond the structural insights, McLoughlin’s reflections on leadership are telling. Across the entrepreneurs and executives he has worked with, two qualities stand out: “communication and empathy”. In complex, uncertain environments, clarity of message and understanding of people become critical differentiators. Strategy matters, but so does the ability to bring others with you.

He also highlights the importance of direction. The best leaders maintain a “North Star” even as circumstances shift. In practice, that means balancing adaptability with consistency, knowing when to pivot and when to hold firm.

For business leaders, the takeaway is less about politics and more about perspective. Decision-making at the highest level is constrained, reactive and shaped by competing demands. Understanding that context can change how organisations engage, communicate and position themselves, not just with government, but with any complex system where influence is earned rather than assumed