1. Be clear about what you want to go into your diary

Your first week will be incredibly busy. It is important to feel you have some control over what you are doing and why, otherwise your diary will quickly be filled with things that others want you to do. This does not mean managing the diary yourself, but rather setting out to your officials what you want to focus on (and what you do not want to spend time on).

Your first few days will be full of meetings to get to know the department and your policy portfolio, with senior civil servants and key external stakeholders. You should also use this time to set your priorities. Are there key white papers you want to get off the ground? Are there particular areas in the country you want to visit, or particular stakeholders you want to prioritise?

Crises and changing government priorities will inevitably mean that you are not able to stick to a strict schedule throughout the year, or indeed throughout any particular week. But clear basic priorities help avoid chaos in ordinary time.

"It’s well-rehearsed that you have to take immediate control of the diary, otherwise civil servants will fill it with rubbish. Which they absolutely will!"

Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the exchequer (2016–19)

A ministerial week

The Treasury will want to make sure you are spending money wisely, so its civil servants and ministers won’t be afraid to be directly critical of your ideas. You should make sure that you are prepared for this. Ask your private office to provide a detailed brief for key meetings with the Treasury, including the critical financial details, and make sure you have taken the time to absorb it. Treasury ministers and officials will often want to get into the concrete details of the policies you are discussing.

The 2010 diary of the then health secretary Andrew Lansley offers some insight into ministerial life.

This image shows a reproduction of Lansley’s first week in office in May 2010 – and demonstrates just how busy the ministerial diary is. In these first few days of the coalition government, Lansley met with key stakeholders and senior civil servants, set the ball rolling on two white papers, and made a visit to a hospital in Leeds.