With special guest John Rentoul of The Independent

With special guest Paul Harrison, former No.10 spokesman

Plus the dawn of Great British Railways, and Michael Gove transforms government

With special guest Tom Newton Dunn of Times Radio

<p>Covid-19 will top the agenda at this month's G7 summit in Cornwall. As some countries lift restrictions and near the completion of vaccine rollouts, others face severe outbreaks or progress being derailed by new variants. No country will escape from the Covid crisis alone – a coordinated global plan which covers vaccination, surveillance and health infrastructure is essential.</p><p>To discuss how world leaders can meet these challenges and put in place long-term plans for handling the threat of Covid-19, this Institute for Government event saw&nbsp;an expert panel draw on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/covid-19-futures" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">series of roundtables</a>&nbsp;organised by the IfG and Wellcome Trust.</p><p>Our panel included:</p><ul><li><strong>Tom Whipple</strong>, Science Editor,&nbsp;<em>The Times</em></li><li><strong>Sir Suma Chakrabarti</strong>, former Permanent Secretary, DfID and the Ministry of Justice, and incoming chair of the Overseas Development Institute. President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 2012–20</li><li><strong>Dame Una O’Brien</strong>, former Permanent Secretary, UK Department of Health;&nbsp;Member of Council, London School of Hygiene and Tropical&nbsp;Medicine</li><li><strong>Professor Gagandeep Kang</strong>, Professor in the Department of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Christian Medical College, India and Fellow of the Royal Society.</li></ul><p>The event was chaired by&nbsp;<strong>Alex Thomas</strong>, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ifgg7&amp;src=typed_query" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>#IfGG7</strong></a></p><p><em>We would like to thank Wellcome Trust for kindly supporting this event.</em></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>

<p>What divides the great Prime Ministers from the mediocre and the just plain bad? And how does Boris Johnson measure up in those stakes? Author of <em>The Impossible Office: The History of the British Prime Minister</em> <strong>Sir Anthony Seldon</strong> and former Government advisor <strong>Salma Shah</strong> take us on a deep dive into the harsh realities of the country’s most powerful office. Is Boris Johnson really as bad a PM as Dominic Cummings says he is? And is unfitness for office just a myth?</p><p><em>• “Unfitness for office has never disqualified people as Prime Ministers. The question with Johnson is, was he unfit enough?” – </em><strong><em>Anthony Seldon</em></strong><em>&nbsp;</em></p><p><em>• “One of Prime Ministers’ strengths is a complete lack of self-awareness…&nbsp;Otherwise every day would be a duvet day.</em><strong><em>” –&nbsp;Salma Shah</em></strong></p><p><em>•&nbsp;“Every PM who’s been less successful has lacked that clear, ruthless vision. You must either have it –&nbsp;or history must throw it on your plate.” </em><strong><em>–&nbsp;Anthony Seldon</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>•&nbsp;</em></strong><em>“Sajid Javid had a knack of making your believe any decision was yours and not his.” </em><strong><em>– Salma Shah</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>•&nbsp;</em></strong><em>“So much of being a Prime Minister is a confidence trick. If confidence collapses, as it did for Theresa May, it’s all over.”</em><strong><em> –&nbsp;Anthony Seldon</em></strong></p><p>Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon. Audio production by Alex Rees. <strong>Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.&nbsp;</strong></p><br><p><a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk</a>&nbsp;</p><br><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>

The fallout from Dominic Cummings’ explosive committee appearance

Plus what to expect from the COVID Inquiry

The Queen's Speech plus how Australia tackled COVID

Super Thursday: an interim report

With guest Stephen Daisley of The Spectator

With guest Adrian Masters, Political Editor of ITV Cymru Wales

<p>The relationship between a failing business and a former prime minister, lobbying in British politics, the rules that guide both ministers and civil servants, and the wider state of standards in public life.&nbsp;Along with former prime minister David Cameron, the Greensill saga has now dragged a growing list of former and current government ministers and officials into its orbit. And it shows no sign of calming down.</p><p>So what are the latest developments, what rules have been broken, what rules aren’t good enough and will the various inquiries now launched actually fix anything?</p><p>A special INSIDE BRIEFING EXTRA brings together IfG’s experts on ministers, civil servants and standards in public life to make sense of it all – and look at the current rules and what now needs to change.</p><p>With</p><ul><li><strong>Hannah White</strong>, IfG deputy director and a former secretary of the committee on&nbsp;<strong>Standards&nbsp;</strong>in Public Life</li><li><strong>Tim Durrant</strong>, IfG associate director, former civil servant and lead for IfG work on ministers</li><li><strong>Alex Thomas</strong>, IfG programme director and a former civil servant at the heart of government</li></ul><p>Presented by&nbsp;<strong>Catherine Haddon</strong>, IfG senior fellow</p><p>Audio production by Candice McKenzie</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>

Judical Review reform with guest Sir Jonathan Jones

With guest Ailbhe Rae of the New Statesman

With special guest Gabriel Pogrund of the Sunday Times

With special guest Rafael Behr of The Guardian

With guests Sophia Gaston and John McTernan

With special guest Luke McGee of CNN

<p>The highest level of public debt and highest tax burden since the late 1960s, the first increase in corporation tax since 1974, the largest net tax rise since 1993…</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In this special edition of Inside Briefing, IfG chief economist, Gemma Tetlow, is joined by IfG senior economist Tom Pope, and IfG senior fellows Jill Rutter and Giles Wilkes to trawl through the details of Rishi Sunak’s second budget. Did he do enough to support businesses and households as the lockdown lifts? Will the plans for large future tax rises and cuts to benefit payments stick? What did the budget reveal about the government’s strategy for UK growth?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Audio production by Candice McKenzie</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ifgbudget2021&amp;src=typed_query" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IfGBudget2021</a></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>

With guests Torcuil Crichton of the Daily Record and John McTernan

An IfG Special

An Institute for Government live event

With special guest Ben Riley-Smith of the Telegraph

<p>Ahead of the Prime Minister producing his new ‘roadmap’, we discuss the plans, priorities and politics for lifting the lockdown. Does the government know what its objectives are? What does ‘data, not dates’ mean in practice? What still needs to be done and what should we look out for when the plan lands?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In this edition of Inside Briefing Extra, IfG Senior Fellow Dr Catherine Haddon is joined by Conservative MP and Covid Recovery Group chairman Mark Harper, the New Statesman’s political editor Stephen Bush, Christina Pagel, Director of the Clinical Operational Research Unit at UCL and Tom Sasse, Associate Director at IfG.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Audio production by Candice McKenzie</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>