Inside Briefing with the Institute fo...

The first Labour government in 14 years is facing a daunting to-do list and complex challenges at every turn. Public services are under strain. The civil service is under pressure. And ministers must deliver the government’s missions and milestones. But could Keir Starmer’s plan to “rewire the British state” – through using AI and creating a “start-up” culture – turn these challenges into opportunities?

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? What can Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves do to achieve faster economic growth? What will Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives and the other opposition parties do to hold the government to account? How might Donald Trump shape British politics – and how could the UK’s relations with the EU change in the years ahead?

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 welcomes special guests for a thought-provoking conversation on what makes government work – and how to fix it when it doesn’t.

Government
Politics
251
Accessing your Flexible Friends
With guest Adrian Masters, Political Editor of ITV Cymru Wales
36 min
252
The Lobbying Scandal: ACOBA on the ropes
<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>
25 min
253
Who Judges The Judges?
Judical Review reform with guest Sir Jonathan Jones
32 min
254
Disintegration Nation
With guest Ailbhe Rae of the New Statesman
40 min
255
Scandal In The Wind
With special guest Gabriel Pogrund of the Sunday Times
39 min
256
COVID: The Year of Indecision
With special guest Rafael Behr of The Guardian
42 min
257
Warheads Revisited – Inside the Integrated Defe...
With guests Sophia Gaston and John McTernan
45 min
258
The Only Way Is Sussex
With special guest Luke McGee of CNN
42 min
259
Budget 2021: Party like it’s 1969?
<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>
45 min
260
Budget: The Four Hundred Billion Pound Man
With guests Torcuil Crichton of the Daily Record and John McTernan
44 min
261
Budget 2021: To recovery and beyond?
An IfG Special
33 min
262
EXTRA: Tony Blair on Coronavirus one year on
An Institute for Government live event
43 min
263
Blind Dates
With special guest Ben Riley-Smith of the Telegraph
34 min
264
Lifting lockdown 2021
<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>
34 min
265
Sundown for Lockdown?
With special guests Mo Hussein and John McTernan
43 min
266
What next for the NHS?
Inside Briefing Extra
25 min
267
Welcome To The Hotel Quarantina
Will new penalties for breaking quarantine work?
42 min
268
Border Farce
With guest Tony Connelly of RTE
44 min
269
COVID: Why won’t the Government learn?
With Steve Richards, political commentator and podcaster
43 min
270
Director’s Annual Lecture 2021
<p><em>This is an audio recording of an IfG Live Event</em></p><p>The Institute for Government hosted&nbsp;the annual lecture by&nbsp;<strong>Bronwen Maddox</strong>, its director.</p><p>In her speech, Bronwen looked at the government’s performance in the extraordinary circumstances of 2020 and what 2021 might bring.</p><p>Her discussion was followed by a response from&nbsp;<strong>Professor David Runciman</strong>&nbsp;and the event was chaired by&nbsp;<strong>Sir Richard Lambert</strong>.</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IFGDirector?f=live" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IfGDirector</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>
74 min
271
No.10’s Command and Control Problem – plus Bide...
With special guest Nick Timothy
49 min
272
Backlogs and Burnout: Will the NHS buckle?
With guest Kate Proctor, political editor at PoliticsHome.com
36 min
273
America’s Day of Chaos
With guest Paul Goodman of Conservative Home
47 min
274
IFG LIVE SPECIAL The Brexit deal: An IfG briefing
<p><strong>A special cross-post from our </strong><a href="https://shows.acast.com/ifg-live-discussions-with-the-institute-for-government" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>IFG LIVE feed</strong></a><strong>.</strong> The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement was published on Christmas Eve, just a week before the transition period was due to end. So what does the deal mean for the UK – and for its relationship with the EU? What will change for businesses? How will data be shared? Will the EU and the UK continue to work closely on security issues? How was the contentious issue of fishing finally sorted? And what does ‘taking back control’ really mean in practice?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The Institute for Government Brexit team assembles for a special Brexit deal podcast to make sense of what has been agreed and what will happen on January 1.&nbsp;Hear <strong>Jill Rutter</strong>, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, in conversation with <strong>Maddy Thimont Jack</strong> (Associate Director), <strong>James Kane</strong> (Associate), <strong>Georgina Wright</strong> (Associate), and <strong>Joe Marshall</strong> (Senior Researcher). Audio production by Candice McKenzie. #IfGBrexit</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>
80 min
275
Outsourcing the Death Star: What fiction and fa...
An IfG Christmas Special
47 min