Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

After avoiding an ethics inquiry into the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal, what can Keir Starmer do to get the government agenda back on track? James Lyons, former director of communications in Number 10, joins the podcast team to assess the Prime Minister's options as the days count down to a big set of big local and devolved elections.  For lessons on relationship rebuilding - and delivering the...

Seven days in, Westminster is still consumed by the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal. The PM has had his say. Olly Robbins - the permanent secretary that Starmer dismissed - has also given his account. So where does this leave Keir Starmer?  Foreign Office permanent secretary Peter Ricketts joins the podcast team to work out where a week of blame and counter-blame has left the government - and what...

The government is reeling from the revelation that Peter Mandelson was appointed as UK ambassador to the US despite having failed a security vetting process. With the blame-game dominating the week in Westminster, what will we learn from Keir Starmer's 'judgment day' Commons statement? What will Olly Robbins – who was sacked by the PM as Foreign Office permanent secretary – reveal in a crucial sel...

"We are underprepared. We are underinsured. We are under attack. We are not safe." George Robertson, former defence secretary and co-author of the government's strategic defence review, has issued a stark warning about Britain's national security. So how serious is it - and what should Keir Starmer do? PLUS: From defence to employment. A new IfG paper argues the government should go further and fa...

Oil is in short supply as the Middle East conflict continues. Donald Trump has told the UK to “build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.” Economist Duncan Weldon joins the pod team to discuss what the government can actually do to respond to rising energy prices. The message to consumers so far is keep calm and carry on as usual. But will this messaging hold - and, if not,...

What should the government do about overseas election funding and cryptocurrency donations? Philip Rycroft, who ran the newly-published Rycroft Review into foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics, joins the podcast team to explain the problem and how it could be fixed. From election funding to funding public services. Labour came into power with a promise to reform the way publ...

As war in the Middle East disrupts energy markets across the world, what are the implications for households and businesses in the UK and how should government respond to the price shock? This IfG webinar explored Rachel Reeves’s options for supporting consumers – and what the ongoing conflict could mean for energy policy, the transition to net zero and for the public finances. What are the implic...

How prepared is the government - and how healthy is the economy - for dealing with another energy bill crisis? The podcast team review the prime minister's response and assess the UK's resilience. The chancellor has delivered a big speech promising more financial devolution to English mayors and closer practical alignment with the EU, but do Rachel Reeves's plans add up? Plus: Should we fire all t...

The conflict in the Middle East has already seen Keir Starmer fall out with Donald Trump - but will the economic fallout of war cause even bigger problems for the government?  Former government adviser Tim Leunig joins the podcast to discuss what the prime minister and Rachel Reeves could do to ease a growing cost of living crisis. In a big week for the government, the controversial courts and tri...

What it is really like to be an MP in 2026? How unusual is the life of a politician? How does power work in parliament? And how can MPs try to have an impact from government or the opposition benches? For this special International Women's Day episode of Inside Briefing, three MPs – Conservative Karen Bradley, Labour's Beccy Cooper, and Ellie Chowns of the Green Party – head to the IfG podcast stu...

The Middle East is at war - but how does the conflict end and what role will the UK play? Sir Alex Younger, the former head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) joins the podcast team to discuss what the US strikes on Iran mean for the region, for the UK and for global security. Keir Starmer has said the UK will “not join regime change from the skies”, but huge questions remain over the extent...

Fire up the forecasts. Read up on the rules. Study the spending plans. And get ready for Rachel Reeves' big day in Parliament. Rupert Harrison, former chief of staff to George Osborne, joins the Inside Briefing team to preview the chancellor's spring forecast. It’s not a budget. It’s not a fiscal event. So it doesn’t get a primetime post-PMQs slot in the Commons timetable. So what exactly is it fo...

Antonia Romeo has been appointed as the new Cabinet Secretary and is the first woman to hold the post. So what can she do to turn the civil service, and perhaps the government, around? Keir Starmer's administration is still reeling from resignations, apologies, suspensions and the latest Peter Mandelson scandal. With questions around ethics and standards back in the news, and both Mandelson and An...

Former Downing Street chief of staff Gavin Barwell joins the podcast to discuss another explosive week at the heart of government.  On Sunday afternoon the prime minister’s chief of staff and closest adviser, Morgan McSweeney, handed in his resignation, followed on Monday by Tim Allan, Downing Street’s director of communication – for just five months. The cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald, too ...

The revelations about what contact Peter Mandelson had with Jeffrey Epstein, what the government knew, and what it did or is now doing about it is the story that is dominating Westminster. The FT’s Jim Pickard joins the podcast team to look back at an explosive week in UK politics, and the serious questions being asked about Starmer’s judgement, the vetting process, and the ability to eject unfit...

Of all its manifesto pledges, missions and milestones, Labour has been most keen to tell the public that it is ‘going for growth’. But does the government have a robust and well thought-through plan to deliver that growth? Or is it, like so many before it, struggling to really take the ‘tough decisions’ required to drag UK GDP growth rates up to meet – and indeed surpass – those of our fellow G7 n...

In a week when Donald Trump has been escalating his threats to NATO member states over Greenland, Darren Jones was on the home front ensuring that the government’s desire to transform government was also continuing. So what is the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister planning? Is it enough to meet the challenges he has identified, and what will they need to do to actually see change? We get stuck...

Drop the excuses culture. Stop complaining about civil servants. And just get it right the first time rather than repeatedly u-turning. Wes Streeting didn’t hold back at the IfG conference this week - so what does the health secretary’s verdict on the government say about Keir Starmer and the challenges he and his ministers face in 2026?   Wes Streeting, Mel Stride, Darren Jones, Louise Casey, And...

With US military strikes on Venezuela dominating headlines, Lawrence Freedman joins the podcast team to ask what Donald Trump's foreign plans mean for the UK - and assess whether Keir Starmer’s Trump strategy will hold in 2026. The prime minister found his January announcements knocked off the front pages - but was anyone really listening? We explore the government challenges facing Starmer and hi...

A year is a long time in the podcasting world, especially for podcasts keeping a close eye on the highs, lows, trials and tribulations of government. Because it has been quite some year for Keir Starmer and his team - and for British politics more generally.  We’ve had reshuffles, resignations and resets. The rise of Reform. The breakthrough of the Greens. Promised policy blitzes. A planned rewiri...

According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first term as US president – and Trump 2.0 has also shown little regard for facts or evidence. Unexpected presidential announcements are made on social media or in press conferences, and Trump’s positions can appear to change overnight. Leaders of other countries, including Keir Starmer, find their own...

The government announced that elections for new mayors in four regions will now be delayed. Voters in Greater Essex, Sussex and Brighton, Hampshire and the Solent, and Norfolk and Suffolk will be waiting until 2028 instead. Why has the government done this? Is this part of a clever strategy or a desperate last-minute fumble?  Meanwhile, the government is installing yet more peers into the House of...

The chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility has gone, the Chancellor is being accused of misleading the public.  So how did that budget go?  Richard Hughes has taken responsibility for the accidental leak of the budget and resigned. What does this mean for the OBR’s future and political trust in it?  Meanwhile, the Chancellor has been accused of misleading the public over the state of public...

Just hours after Rachel Reeves sets out the budget to parliament, this webinar brought together a team of Institute for Government (IfG) experts to share their instant and essential analysis of the chancellor’s plans.   Who are the winners and losers of Reeves’s tax and spending announcements? How will her measures affect economic growth? Has the chancellor finally set a coherent tax strategy? And...

Scotland is just six months away from May’s crucial parliamentary election, with First Minister John Swinney preparing to lead the SNP into one of the most unpredictable campaigns since the party entered government almost 19 years ago. On 19 November, the Institute for Government was delighted to welcome Scotland’s First Minister to discuss his priorities ahead of the 2026 Scottish parliament elec...