Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

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...

Join IfG experts for instant analysis of the 2025 spending review – a critical moment for Keir Starmer’s government. Were the spending allocations sufficient to improve public services, deliver growth and make progress on the government’s other missions? Which departments will be pleased – and which lost out? And did this multi-year spending review reveal a coherent strategy for the government ove...

Britain has been through a difficult period since the global financial crisis, leading many to conclude the country is doomed to inevitable decline. But Jeremy Hunt, who was at the top of government as both Foreign Secretary and Chancellor, disagrees. In his new book, Can We Be Great Again?, he sets out to rebut those who think Britain is no longer capable of shaping the world we live in.   With t...

The newly-published Strategic Defence Review sets out how the UK can fight and win a full-scale war. So what is it recommending and just how dangerous is the world right now? Tom Newton Dunn, presenter of The General and the Journalist podcast, joins the podcast team to make sense of an ever-shifting – and alarming – defence landscape.   Plus: Spending Review countdown. This Wednesday will see Rac...

It is one year since the 2024 general election campaign kicked off and already reshuffle rumours are doing the rounds. Adam Payne, Editor of PoliticsHome, joins us to discuss whether a reshuffle is a good way to inject energy into a not-so-new government or risks knocking it off course.   The spending review is looming, and in time-honoured tradition the final negotiations are playing out in the m...

Keir Starmer has signed off on a so-called UK/EU reset. So, what’s in the new deal and what does it mean for the never-ending Brexit drama? The Guardian’s Kiran Stacey joins the podcast team to dig into the detail.   Davie Gauke has been uncorked. So, what is in his review of prison sentencing? The team dig into his recommendations and give their verdict.   Plus: Nick Clegg is back! The former dep...

After Keir Starmer made headlines with his warnings of an “island of strangers”, British Future’s Sunder Katwala joins the podcast team to dig into the detail of the government’s new immigration policy. Farewell to 102 Petty France - and a few other Whitehall buildings too. The government is dispersing civil servants to new locations around the country. Will the plan work? Plus: Why the government...

Will white smoke on two trade deals help shift the narrative for Keir Starmer after a tricky week? Peter Foster, the FT’s new world trade editor, joins the podcast team to dig into the details of breakthrough agreements with both the US and India. Perhaps a bigger win for the government would be to achieve that elusive reset with the EU. A big summit is looming. So what is on the table and is prog...

Votes have been counted – well, most of them. So what do Thursday’s elections for four regional mayors, more than 1000 councillors and the new MP for Runcorn and Helsby mean for British politics, Keir Starmer and the Labour government’s devolution agenda? Another big election has taken place too – and that’s in Canada. Mark Carney – remember him? – has won the general election, and in doing so tur...

As Labour jostles with Reform for polling points and the Conservatives debate the merits of cosying up to Nigel Farage's party, More in Common's Luke Tryl joins the podcast team to take stock of the polls - and what they might say about the upcoming local elections. With Rachel Reeves still looking nervously at the economic data and Donald Trump making increasingly hard-to-follow statements about...

Procurement is central to the operation of modern government but, following a series of high-profile scandals, is often controversial. Much of the criticism has focused on the role of the biggest suppliers, some of whom have become household names for the wrong reasons. But who are these big suppliers and how dependent is the government on them? This special episode of Inside Briefing will tell yo...

As Donald Trump pauses his trade war (well, except in the case of China) the podcast team are joined by economist and author Duncan Weldon to make sense of the president’s wild economic rollercoaster ride – and the uncomfortable choices it means for Keir Starmer. The PM and his team have some levers to pull, and this week they eached for a familiar one labelled ‘Quango Bonfire’. So what has been a...

The rules of global trade have been dramatically ripped up by Donald Trump. So what is the US president’s tariff plan actually meant to do? Has a global trade war started? How big a hit will the UK economy take? And what options does Keir Starmer have to fight back?   The government urgently needs to inject some growth into the economy, but can Whitehall make that happen? Andy Burnham, Mayor of Gr...

Spring has nearly sprung, but the fiscal forecasts made for a rather gloomy spring statement for Rachel Reeves. Stewart Wood, a Labour peer and former adviser to Gordon Brown, joins the podcast team to assess the state of the economy - and Reeves’s attempts to turn it around.  How much will welfare cuts upset Labour backbenchers? What could Donald Trump's tariffs mean for Reeves's plans? And just...