INSIDE BRIEFING with Institute for Go...

These are tumultuous times in UK politics. Government is under strain, the civil service is under pressure, and ministers are grappling with the fallout of Covid, the impact of Brexit and an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. So where is government working well and what is it doing badly? What can be done to make No10, the Treasury and the rest of government function more effectively? And as a general election draws ever nearer, what are the key political and policy dividing lines – and what do they mean for the way this country is run? 

Get behind the scenes in Westminster, Whitehall and beyond on the weekly podcast from Britain’s leading governmental think tank, where we analyse the latest events in politics and explain what they mean. Every week on INSIDE BRIEFING, IfG director Hannah White and the team welcome special guests for a free-ranging conversation on what makes government work – and how to fix it when it doesn’t.

Government
Politics
301
Second in Command?
With guest David Lidington, Theresa May’s former deputy
46 min
302
Designated survivors: Who’s in charge?
With guest DAVID SMITH, The Guardian's Washington Bureau chief
44 min
303
Sunset Clause is coming to town: Inside the Cor...
With special guest Paul Waugh of Huffington Post
35 min
304
Coronanomics – “An enormous moral decision”
With special guests Matthew Parris of The Times and Jill Rutter
40 min
305
How to handle a national emergency – a special ...
Insiders Jacqui Smith, Steve Morris and Stewart Wood on what it’s like to deal with a major crisis
45 min
306
IfG INTERVIEWS: Julia Gillard, former Australia...
The latest in our occasional series of bonus interviews
17 min
307
Let’s get fiscal: Can Sunak bury Corona in cash?
Budget analysis from the IfG's experts
32 min
308
IfG INTERVIEWS: David Gauke, former Treasury Se...
Another in our series of bonus interviews
13 min
309
A matter of life and debt
The knotty problems of Universal Credit and the UK’s trade deals
46 min
310
EXTRA: Rutnam vs Patel lays Civil Service/Govt ...
A special edition on the explosive resignation of Priti Patel's permanent secretary
15 min
311
Breaking Spad: is something rotten in the state...
Special guests: Tony Blair's political secretary JOHN McTERNAN and former Business Secretary GREG CLARK
40 min
312
“The Department of No”: Inside the Number Ten-T...
Plus COP26: the 4D chess of combating climate change
39 min
313
Reading the runes of Reshuffle Day with Gavin B...
Losing a major minister: carelessness or design?
40 min
314
BONUS: Gina Miller – “Parliamentary sovereignty...
The former Remain campaigner on the future of the British Constitution
14 min
315
Getting Away With It? How to scrutinise an all-...
Plus GINA MILLER on the fight for the future of the Constitution
42 min
316
BONUS: Gisela Stuart – “I didn’t realise how de...
Full version of our interview with the leading Leave campaigner
16 min
317
Home and Huawei: Will Boris pass his first post...
Brexit Week, the Huawei decision and leading Leaver Gisele Stuart
47 min
318
What works in Whitehall – and what doesn’t?
Inside the IfG's Whitehall Monitor, and should we move the House of Lords north?
37 min
319
The Leverage Report
Who’s got the power to get what they want in 2020?
38 min
320
BONUS: Jonathan Powell – “What I discovered in ...
<p>“You need to persuade the Civil Service. Attacking them is not the way to do it.” As Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff during the New Labour years,&nbsp;<strong>Jonathan Powell&nbsp;</strong>trod the path of radical reform that Dominic Cummings now walks. In this extended version of his interview in this week’s INSIDE BRIEFING, he tells Sam Macrory of the hidden pitfalls of rapid government reform, the perils of absentee opposition, and the real possibility of the UK breaking up over Brexit.</p><br><p>“I think Boris Johnson will survive this year, politically,” he says. “But I don’t think Dominic Cummings will.”</p><br><p>Interview by Sam Macrory. Audio production by Alex Rees.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
21 min
321
Revolution Number Ten
<p>Dominic Cummings wants to make “seismic” changes to the way government works. Can the PM’s supreme advisor pull off such radical transformations in short order? And are his reforms really all that radical, or just designed to look that way? Special guest <strong>James Kirkup</strong> of the Social Market Foundation joins us to discuss what levelling up government” really means – and whether proper scrutiny is a thing of the past in an age of massive majorities.</p><br><p>Plus, secrets of how new MPs look busy. Can Boris Johnson really ban the word Brexit? The march of the “misfits and weirdos”. And the undiscovered political power of the English-not-British. And we talk to Tony Blair’s former Chief of Staff <strong>Jonathan Powell</strong> about the limits of power and the bear-traps hidden in the heart of Whitehall. Watch out for a special extended version of the interview in your podcast feed.</p><br><p>“These are the beginning of the lean years for lobby journalists who have for three years feasted on huge fatted corpses.” - James Kirkup</p><br><p>Hosted by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon and Hannah White. Audio production by Alex Rees.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
43 min
322
Get with the programme? Johnson’s new era of go...
Plus key Brexiter Douglas Carswell, and the legacy of Cameron
43 min
323
Holyrood vs. Westminster: A Scottish Independen...
As the SNP sweeps Scotland in the General Election, can the Union survive?
37 min
324
Johnson unbound? Election results special
What the Conservative victory means for Brexit, trade, services… and fish?
39 min
325
Election: The Final Countdown
<p>As the General Election goes down to the wire, we’re joined by special guest&nbsp;<strong>Sebastian Payne</strong>&nbsp;of the Financial Times to look at campaign control freakery and the constitutional uncertainty that surrounds this unpredictable vote. What happens if there’s a hung parliament but the biggest party can’t form a government? Can the PM just stay in place? And what would happen if Boris Johnson lost his seat?</p><br><p>Plus, the&nbsp;<strong>social care</strong>&nbsp;crisis is a pressing issue for government but why are politicians so terrified of touching it? Nick Davies of the IfG tells us why this politically radioactive issue urgently needs cross-party consensus.&nbsp;</p><br><p>And with political journalism under the spotlight as seldom before, we speak to&nbsp;<strong>Jo Coburn</strong>, formidable presenter of the BBC’s Daily Politics show, about the challenges of fake news, unconscious bias and dealing with politicians who simply refuse to turn up to face scrutiny. “When parties attack us, I think they’re losing the argument,” she says. “It’s an easy hit to blame journalists when we bend over backwards to ensure we represent every shade of opinion.”</p><br><p>All this plus Seb Payne coining the world “Coalitious”. Remember that one for future use.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Hosted by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon and Hannah White plus Gavin Freeguard and Nick Davies. Audio production by Alex Rees.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
48 min