Who broke Britain? Welcome to The i Paper’s opinion series in which our range of experts tackle this question and identify the individuals whose decisions caused the country’s biggest problems.

• David Cameron: The unlikely villain who casually killed the Conservative Party
• Tony Blair: A sincere deceiver who broke Britain’s trust on migration
• Andrew broke our bond with the monarchy and put the Royal Family at risk
• Dominic Cummings: A human wrecking ball who shows no guilt
• Nigel Farage’s great project is to destroy the country he claims to love
• The Frenchman whose wild ideas poisoned our politics and economy

In the autumn of 1963, graffiti reading “MARPLES MUST GO” appeared on a bridge across the shiny new M1 motorway near Luton. Given that Ernest Marples was the transport minister, you might imagine that this was a reference to the hated Beeching report, published just a few months earlier, but you would be wrong. This was the most visible symptom of a viral campaign by motorists who objected to the introduction of traffic wardens and rules against drunk driving.

All of which is to say that Ernest Marples was not a cartoon villain – he achieved some genuinely good things. But in several important respects – political, moral, the interests he fought for and kowtowed to........

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