Politicians, at least in the US, deferred and continue to defer heavily to both lobbyist and their staff. Politicians themselves have to spend a lot of time fundraising and building relationships and don’t have a lot of time to actually spend on policy, so they rely on many others to tell them what policies would be good and, importantly, which policies their constituents want and will be more likely to reelect them for helping to enact.
Politicians, at least in the US, deferred and continue to defer heavily to both lobbyist and their staff. Politicians themselves have to spend a lot of time fundraising and building relationships and don’t have a lot of time to actually spend on policy, so they rely on many others to tell them what policies would be good and, importantly, which policies their constituents want and will be more likely to reelect them for helping to enact.