“We have conversations that aren’t always shared or in minutes,” admits Adam Love, head of external communications at Hitachi Rail. That comment may sound vaguely sinister, but it’s swiftly followed by a more prosaic observation. “We’re just helping politicians better understand our market, because they’re not experts. It’s our job to help them and to help them make the right decisions.”

That market is, of course, the railways. A former press officer at Network Rail and the office of the mayor of London, Love is one of those people who move seamlessly between government and the private sector. To talk with him is quickly to be disabused of the idea that there is some shadowy world at the centre of power: policy is more prosaic than that. “We’re talking about investment in services, how we’re helping constituents get to work on time or visit their families,” he explains. “We’re just helping politicians better understand our market, because they’re not experts.”

By offering expertise to a policymaking class typically in great need of it – as many who are still scarred by the calamitous DoT tenure of Chris Grayling will attest – Love is offering Hitachi as a kind of civic help. In talking to him, I feel I’m getting closer to answering one of the overlooked questions of politics: has external influence on policy-making become too great? To put it another way: is the interaction …