In certain corners of the Westminster village, what was once regarded as the lunatic ravings of Dominic Cummings have begun to seep into the mainstream. Britain is broken, so echo pubs up and down Whitehall, because a system that rewards failure, blocks talent, and invites venality has produced a Parliament of media-obsessed show ponies and a civil service where domain expertise hinders advancement.

If today’s Westminster is filled with too many amateurish professionals, the original ideal has not yet been extinguished elsewhere

If today’s Westminster is filled with too many amateurish professionals, the original ideal has not yet been extinguished elsewhere

One upshot has been the rise of a quasi-Bolshevik start-up culture imbuing nerdy topics like system design, tech and AI, nuclear, planning and infrastructure reform with an unprecedented sexiness in Wonkland. From Civic Future to Looking for Growth, the bright young young-ish acolytes of this movement both left and right are united in their hostility to amateurism in public life.

But ‘amateur’ was not always such a dirty word. The Victorian ideal of the gentleman amateur was a connoisseur, engaged in serious pursuit of the chosen vocation, highly skilled and knowledgeable – only with noble, unsullied motivations like love, honour and public-spiritedness rather than need or personal gain. If today’s Westminster is filled with too many amateurish professionals, the original ideal has not yet been extinguished........

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