Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

This week on the podcast that dispels the mysteries of government: Backroom squabbles, bullying and powergrabs — is the Johnson administration already tearing itself apart from within? We discover why Government should learn to love its Perm Secs and Spads.  Plus Tony Blair’s former political secretary turned strategy guru JOHN McTERNAN reveals untold tales of how to grease the wheels of governmen...

This week on the podcast that ventures into the engine room of government, the Treasury vs Number Ten. War without end or grudging partnership of equals? Special guest TIM PITT was a SPAD at the Cabinet Office and senior Treasury advisor. As the Javid fallout settles, Tim tells us where the power really lies.    Plus the Bank of England’s Chief Economist ANDY HALDANE on why our economy needs new m...

When Sajid Javid quit as Chancellor it served up an unexpected vintage Reshuffle Day. But do big ministerial resignations really come as a surprise to the people moving the chesspieces? Special guest GAVIN BARWELL, former Chief of Staff to Theresa May, tells us how tense it gets in Westminster when Cabinet job are reassigned, and offers some insider advice for new ministers.  Plus we talk to SARAH...

An extended version of our interview with high-profile Remainer turned constitution campaigner GINA MILLER. She explains how she’s staying in the constitutional fight, why she thinks “Remain and Rejoin” are done for now, why she’s encouraged by how backbenchers have handled HS2 and Huawei, and why the hardest part of Brexit is yet to come.  “Some of the government’s language would not be out of pl...

Where has all the scrutiny gone, long time passing…? As the Government wields its apparently unassailable majority, who will be the thorn on the Government’s otherwise impenetrable hide this year? Plus special guest PAUL HARRISON – Theresa May’s former press spokesman – explains what this week’s spat between lobby journalists and government advisors really means. And can the Government pull off it...

In an extended version of her interview on this week’s podcast, leading light of Leave GISELA STUART tells Cath Haddon what it was really like inside the campaign to exit the EU. Listen for fascinating detail on the atmosphere inside the Brexit victory, why she “really likes” Dominic Cummings, why the “old, playful Boris Johnson” has disappeared… and why she worries that we could be in for a crisi...

As Britain finally leaves the EU, the vastness of the Brexit task ahead becomes clearer. Special guest PETER FOSTER, Europe Editor of the Telegraph (and soon Policy Editor at the FT), joins us to talk about our future relationship with the EU and who will hold the Government to account at home. Meanwhile, was Boris Johnson’s first big independent decision – on allowing Huawei into the UK’s 5G plan...

Blood runs cold in Westminster as the IfG hands down its annual judgment on government efficiency, the Whitehall Monitor. Who gets an A-Star, who has room to improve and who’s on the naughty step? And why does Britain’s idiosyncratic approach to talent management mean that the Civil Service is getting older and younger at the same time? Also, Northern Uproar: Moving the grand old Lords to York – w...

Who’s really got the whip hand during Britain’s post-Brexit negotiations with the EU? Special guest RACHEL SYLVESTER of The Times joins us to look at whether Boris Johnson can play the brinkmanship game again when it comes to new trade arrangements with our European friends. Plus, we talk to LIAM FOX about starting a government department from scratch, that putative Trump trade deal, and whether h...

“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, Jonathan Powell 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 oppositi...

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 James Kirkup of the Social Market Foundation joins us to discuss what levelling up government” really means – and whether proper scrutiny is a th...

It’s the second Queens Speech in two months, with perhaps more changes than we expected. Will Boris Johnson’s huge majority mean he can deliver on his election promises? Or will his radical programme be derailed by governments’ oldest enemies: unforeseen circumstances, hubris, and “events, dear boy”*? On this last INSIDE BRIEFING before Christmas, we also look at whether Johnson can pull off his m...

PODCAST EXTRA: As the SNP sweeps Scotland in the General Election, can the Union survive? And with Holyrood and Westminster on a collision course, will Nicola Sturgeon’s demands for another referendum be impossible for Boris Johnson to rebuff? The IfG has just released its most detailed report yet into possible roads to IndyRef2 and potential fallout of another vote. On this special podcast its co...

It’s the general election result we half-expected – but few thought it would upset politics on such a seismic scale. Aside from the party tumult, will Boris Johnson’s giant majority mean wholesale change for the way Whitehall does business? How can he resolve the tension between what the Conservatives promised and what their tax commitments can deliver? And beneath the surface, the hidden issue of...

As the General Election goes down to the wire, we’re joined by special guest Sebastian Payne of the Financial Times to look at campaign control freakery and the constitutional uncertainty that surrounds this unpredictable vote. What happens if there’s a hung parliament but the biggest party can’t form a government? Can the PM just stay in place? And what would happen if Boris Johnson lost his seat...

This week on the podcast that explains the way that government works (and why it often doesn’t)...   The IfG team are joined by New Statesman political editor Stephen Bush to make sense of the party manifestos. Do all the spending pledges add up? And does it matter if they don’t?   There’s a bit of Brexit in there too – but what are the EU up to while UK politicians are busy knocking on doors?   W...

This week on the podcast that takes you inside the way that government works and sometimes doesn’t.. The IfG team are joined by David Allen Green to discuss whether the general election will resolve all the constitutional chaos of the last few years? And just how difficult would it be told a second referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU? A new prime minister might be tempted to redesign White...

This week on the podcast that takes you inside the way that government works (or doesn’t): Labour has massive plans for Britain but what do they need to do to make them happen if they win the Election? We look at how incoming governments routinely underestimate the hurdles of getting big things done.  What can the IfG’s biggest-ever report reveal about how public services have fared under austerit...

This week on the podcast that looks at how Government works, and sometimes doesn’t… Both major parties are promising massive public spending if they win the Election, but are there enough projects out there to spend it all on? The right to free access to the government’s own reports becomes a key Election battleground. And there’s a brand new Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle. How will Parliament deal with t...

As the 2017-2019 Parliament ends and Britain girds itself for a General Election, how will this Parliament be viewed by history? Has it perhaps done its job better than some people think? Will future governments need to do things differently now that Parliament has flexed its muscles? “Backbenchers have found that they can get together, form coalitions and do things that Government doesn’t want,”...

“It’s a ‘yes, but’. But that ‘yes, but’ is political gold-dust…” This week on the podcast that explains how government works (and often doesn’t)… Boris Johnson moves his Brexit Deal further than Theresa May ever pushed hers, but not quite far enough. What are the legal and constitutional positions that hem him in? How soon would the PM need to dissolve Parliament in order to get an election this s...

How can we make government work more effectively? What are Brexit and the current political tumult doing to our institutions? What needs to change in our system of government – and how can we change it? We’ll explore all these things and more on INSIDE BRIEFING, the new podcast from the Institute for Government, Britain’s leading governmental think tank. This week: As the most momentous weekend of...