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
351
The Impossible Choice
The Guardian’s health editor Sarah Boseley is our guest
47 min
352
Second in Command?
With guest David Lidington, Theresa May’s former deputy
46 min
353
Designated survivors: Who’s in charge?
With guest DAVID SMITH, The Guardian's Washington Bureau chief
44 min
354
Sunset Clause is coming to town: Inside the Cor...
With special guest Paul Waugh of Huffington Post
35 min
355
Coronanomics – “An enormous moral decision”
With special guests Matthew Parris of The Times and Jill Rutter
40 min
356
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
357
IfG INTERVIEWS: Julia Gillard, former Australia...
The latest in our occasional series of bonus interviews
17 min
358
Let’s get fiscal: Can Sunak bury Corona in cash?
Budget analysis from the IfG's experts
32 min
359
IfG INTERVIEWS: David Gauke, former Treasury Se...
Another in our series of bonus interviews
13 min
360
A matter of life and debt
The knotty problems of Universal Credit and the UK’s trade deals
46 min
361
EXTRA: Rutnam vs Patel lays Civil Service/Govt ...
A special edition on the explosive resignation of Priti Patel's permanent secretary
15 min
362
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
363
“The Department of No”: Inside the Number Ten-T...
Plus COP26: the 4D chess of combating climate change
39 min
364
Reading the runes of Reshuffle Day with Gavin B...
Losing a major minister: carelessness or design?
40 min
365
BONUS: Gina Miller – “Parliamentary sovereignty...
The former Remain campaigner on the future of the British Constitution
14 min
366
Getting Away With It? How to scrutinise an all-...
Plus GINA MILLER on the fight for the future of the Constitution
42 min
367
BONUS: Gisela Stuart – “I didn’t realise how de...
Full version of our interview with the leading Leave campaigner
16 min
368
Home and Huawei: Will Boris pass his first post...
Brexit Week, the Huawei decision and leading Leaver Gisele Stuart
47 min
369
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
370
The Leverage Report
Who’s got the power to get what they want in 2020?
38 min
371
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
372
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
373
Get with the programme? Johnson’s new era of go...
Plus key Brexiter Douglas Carswell, and the legacy of Cameron
43 min
374
Holyrood vs. Westminster: A Scottish Independen...
As the SNP sweeps Scotland in the General Election, can the Union survive?
37 min
375
Johnson unbound? Election results special
What the Conservative victory means for Brexit, trade, services… and fish?
39 min