Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

The First Minister for Scotland joined the Inside Briefing team to discuss football, the political context in Scotland ahead of the UK budget, and the SNP’s vision for Scotland’s future. Meanwhile, the Home Secretary announced significant reforms to the UK’s asylum and migration system. We discussed how the plans landed, what might happen next and what challenges lie ahead. And this week saw the f...

Ambitious Labour politicians might or might not be eyeing up the top job. No. 10 isn’t working well. The Prime Minister is on the defensive. Here we go again.   Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is in the headlines - accused of plotting a leadership challenge against the prime minister. Streeting has dismissed the attacks as “self-defeating nonsense” and has urged Keir Starmer to sack whoever i...

Taxes set to rise? Spending set to be cut? Promises to be kept – or maybe broken? Whatever chancellors choose to reveal on budget day, it’s normally a good idea to let people know what they can expect…   So has Rachel Reeves done a good job of rolling the pitch? How did former chancellors go about warming up their party, voters, the media and business? And what can they do to make sure the right p...

The Home Office is not fit for purpose. At least that’s the verdict of the home secretary. So what’s the problem and how can it be fixed? Former home office special adviser Hannah Guerin joins the podcast team for a deep dive into the woes of one of Whitehall’s most challenging departments.   Reform UK’s Danny Kruger has been setting out his plans for government reform. Outlandish or workable? We’...

Prisons nearly bursting. Court cases backlogged. Prisoners released early. It couldn’t happen again, could it? Former BBC journalist and Labour adviser Danny Shaw joins the podcast team to discuss a brand new IfG report into the state of the criminal justice system. In another difficult week for the government, the inquiry into grooming gangs has run into problems after at least four members of th...

With the prime ministers facing awkward questions over the collapse of the Chinese spy case, the Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff joins the podcast team to explore the row and what it says about the UK’s relations with Beijing. Local authorities provide services that everybody relies on, but the findings of a new IfG report into the state of local government finances and services makes for some eye-wateri...

Lagging well behind Reform in the polls and bruised by a series of defections, the Conservative Party was in low spirits as it gathered for its party conference.  So did party leader Kemi Badenoch answer her critics with that big stamp duty announcement? Will new Conservative policies win back voters? Do Mel Stride's spending pledges add up? And does any of this really make any difference at all? ...

The gloves are off. And it's a fight for the soul of our country. So says Keir Starmer. So how is he planning to win it? Sophie Stowers of More in Common joins the IfG podcast team for instant reaction to the Prime Minister's speech in Liverpool - which features praise for the swagger of Oasis - and expert analysis of the Labour Party conference. So what does Starmer's speech say about his Nigel F...

Labour is heading back to Liverpool for its annual conference, so what does Keir Starmer need to do to lift the party’s spirits and get some momentum behind his government? Former Number 10 adviser Tom Webb joins the podcast team to preview a massive couple of days for the prime minister and his team. The November budget will loom large over Liverpool – so how might the chancellor approach the tri...

The US president is in town. And the timing could probably hardly be worse for a prime minister still reeling from his sacking of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US. Michael Martins, a former senior official at the US embassy, joins the podcast team to preview the visit – and what Keir Starmer can actually hope to achieve from Donald Trump’s visit.   Plus: Arriving on a Jet Ski? Ed D...

Peter Mandelson has been sacked as the UK’s ambassador the US. But what does his downfall say about Keir Starmer’s judgment in making appointments? The Observer’s Cat Neilan joins the podcast team to weigh up the dramatic end of Mandelson’s time in Washington.   Keir Starmer has a new team in place, with ministers hastily moved around following Angela Rayner’s dramatic departure from the cabinet –...

Phase one is complete. Phase two begins. And it’s all about delivery. But just how hard is it for governments to do the delivery bit of governing? The IfG podcast team give their expert view.   Civil servants are key to making a success of the government’s policies and priorities - perhaps none more so than the high flying fast stream. But who are they - and is this cohort doing a good job? A new...

The party conference countdown has begun, and the Westminster Village is set to decamp to Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bournemouth and beyond.   But what this the point of the party conference jamboree?  What is it really like to spend four days locked inside a windowless conference centre and take yp residence at t a hotel bar? How do civil servants manage this temporary Westminster exodus?...

All governments face crises, from floods and diseases to riots and terrorist attacks.   So how can ministers lead during these unexpected events? How can they ensure that everyone in the system – from the first responders to the prime minister – is doing what is needed to respond to the crisis? And what are the best ways to keep the public informed?   With guests including former home secretaries...

Being a minister is a job like no other. No briefing, no training and, sometimes, no warning – from day one a new minister could find themselves making high-stakes decisions with huge consequences for the country.   So getting some advice from people that have been a minister can be useful – and the IfG’s Ministers Reflect series is the place to start.   Over the past 10 years, the Institute for G...

What is it really like to govern in summer? Who is in charge when ministers leave Westminster? And what happens when, as it so often does, the summer isn’t all that quiet?   The Inside Briefing podcast team have headed into the vaults to dig out a special episode from 2021 featuring Sky’s Sam Coates, former (and future) minister Jacqui Smith, journalist Steve Richards and former No10 adviser Kate...

Kemi Badenoch has completed one. Keir Starmer is rumoured to be lining one up.  Yes reshuffles, or rumours of ministerial reshuffles, are never far away in Westminster.   So what should ministers fear? What should the prime minister avoid? When do reshuffles go right? And why do they sometimes go wrong?    With special guests Cleo Watson and Helen Macnamara, who have had front row seats alongside...

Partygate, revolving doors, freebiegate and cash for questions... stories about misbehaviour in public life are never far away, and this week the government has set out new plans for toughening up the rules. Doug Chalmers, who will chair the new Ethics and Integrity Commission, joins the Inside Briefing team for an exclusive interview. From setting up new bodies to abolishing existing ones.  A new...

The Afghan data leak – and the unprecedented superinjunction which followed – has dominated the week in Westminster. The FT’s Lucy Fisher – whose reporting has led coverage of the story – joins the podcast team to discuss who is to blame and what this episode tells us about how the state reacts when mistakes are made.   The story knocked Rachel Reeves off the front pages, but the chancellor has ma...

The Prime Minister has racked up the visits, tours and summits over the last year, but this week he turned host and invited President Macron for a state visit. Former Europe minister David Lidington joins the podcast team to assess the state of UK-French relations.   This week has brought us a major new review of criminal courts – with some big recommendations to easing the court case backlog in E...

It is one year since the general election brought Labour back to government and since Keir Starmer walked into Number 10. Instead of a smooth anniversary, the government has been forced to confront a major parliamentary rebellion and roll back on a flagship spending policy. So how has Labour’s first year in power really worked out for Keir Starmer? What lessons can they learn for the challenges ah...

The government’s controversial plans to cut the welfare budget have caused serious disquiet on the Labour benches. Luke Sullivan, former political director to Keir Starmer, joins the IfG podcast to explore how serious a problem this is for Keir Starmer - and how the government got itself into this situation. It isn’t just Labour MPs that are giving No10 a headache. Apparently civil servants are to...

To conclude the IfG’s conference on the Nolan Principles, our panel will discuss the impact of the Nolan Principles in public life today. How have they changed the standards landscape in the UK? What do the public think about standards in public life? How useful are standards and principles to leaders in government? And how can a strong standards system support a government’s wider objectives?   ...

With conflict in the Middle East is dominating the headlines, the New Statesman’s Rachel Cunliffe joins the podcast team to explore Keir Starmer’s attempts to influence Donald Trump and ask whether the UK has a role to play beyond that of a concerned bystander.   There is plenty of domestic politics around too, with the prime minister announcing an inquiry into grooming gangs - having said, only a...

It’s the morning after one of (perhaps the) most significant days in this government’s lifetime to date. Gideon Skinner of IPSOS joins the podcast team to weigh up what Rachel Reeves’ Spending Review told us about the government’s priorities – and how it has landed with the electorate. Which departments will be happy and which will be feeling hard done by? What does it mean for public service perf...