Talk about mission government and you will likely hear a version of JFK’s famous "we choose to go to the moon" declaration. Less discussed is his reference to the "staggering sum" involved or the critics who labelled it "moon-doggle" – a play on boondoggle meaning an unnecessary and expensive piece of work. Or that most Americans, at a time of poverty, civil unrest, and the Vietnam War, opposed an expense that dwarfed the Manhattan Project.
Even a vision as inspirational as reaching for the stars faced a legitimacy challenge.
Indeed, without the Cold War – and a charismatic president who skilfully declared the sum as "somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year" – Apollo 11 might never have taken off, in every sense.
This raises fundamental questions about sustaining public support for ambitious government missions in an age of declining trust and pressing social and economic challenges.
In the UK Open Government Network’s recent submission to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, we argue mission government alone is not enough. That it must be combined with another model.
Open government is defined by the OECD as a culture of governance based on transparency, accountability, and public participation. It is championed by the 74-country Open Government Partnership (OGP), which the UK government helped establish in 2011, and has led to the co-creation of thousands of reforms by government and civil society as a way to rebuild public trust.
Mission government, championed by Prof Mariana Mazzucato, has been adopted from Camden Council and the European Commission to the UK government itself, with missions central to its strategy in areas from net zero to the NHS. Mission government focuses on bold, outcome-driven goals that require long-term political will and cross-sector collaboration.
Whilst each offers part of the solution, combined they provide a roadmap for tackling complex challenges whilst rebuilding public confidence in the institutions of government.
Why? Because missions need trust. And trust needs openness.
More specifically:
- Missions need public legitimacy – open government creates this through co-creation with civil society, academia, and business.
- Missions need longevity – open government has proven tools like national action plans and multi-stakeholder forums that are over a decade old, protecting progress from political churn.
- Missions need cross-department coordination – open government embeds transparency and shared accountability across departments, supporting cultural change.
Linking the two is not just theory. Countries like Estonia have used participatory foresight to guide digital transformation missions. New Zealand incorporates wellbeing metrics and stakeholder feedback into budget allocation. And closer to home, Camden Council uses co-designed missions linked to local values and transparent progress tracking.
So what now? The Cabinet Office, which has responsibility for both, should:
- Bring missions to life through partnership. Adapt proven collaboration models like the multi-stakeholder gorum to bring government, business, and civil society together.
- Learn from the world through the global OGP network to find reforms that work, track progress openly and consider equivalent independent oversight models like that in OGP.
- Apply mission ambition to the next National Action Plan (2026-2028) for Open Government. Align it with key missions and engage external partners more meaningfully than ever before.
Within a year of JFK choosing to go to the moon, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial and shared a different vision. No budget. No machinery of government. Just a dream.
He shone a light on injustice, held institutions accountable to their stated values, and mobilised civil society to push for – and ultimately help shape – government reform. The Civil Rights Act followed in 1964.
Two different paths to transformative change, yet both relied on public trust and legitimacy. Missions need vision, but vision needs trust. And trust requires openness.
It is time to bring them together.
Kevin Keith is chair of the UK Open Government Network
Join CSW for a webinar discussion on 10 July looking back what on the first year of mission-oriented government has meant for civil servants. From new priorities to organisational transformation, we will explore how departments have adapted to a new administration, funding models, and ways of working. Sign up here