Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

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...

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?...