A good question - and one which was explored in all sorts of tongue-in-cheek ways by the UK TV comedy series "Yes Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister".

In theory, the UK Civil Service works to carry out the orders of the politicians who head up the various ministries - but I know that the situation is more complex than that. The Civil Service has probably a vastly greater experience of seeing the consequences of a huge and varying range of policies by various governments over the years than the governments themselves.

The question, of course, is what is considered "inept"... and there will no doubt be all sorts of points of view on that one.