Shows / Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
The first Labour government in 14 years is facing a daunting to-do list and complex challenges at every turn. Public services are under strain. The civil service is under pressure. And ministers must deliver the government’s missions and milestones. But could Keir Starmer’s plan to “rewire the British state” – through using AI and creating a “start-up” culture – turn these challenges into opportunities? So where is government working well and what is it doing badly? What can be done to make…
Episodes
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
One Hell of a Kicking for Boris Johnson
A seismic North Shropshire by-election result rocks the Johnson government, handing a seat that’s been almost exclusively Conservative for 200 years to the Lib…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Ain’t no Party like a Number 10 Party
After a week of denying that any party took place at Downing Street last Christmas, Boris Johnson has asked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to investigate. We…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Why Does It Always Rayn On Keir?
When Angela Rayner stood up to set out her vision for restoring trust in public life, news broke that Keir Starmer had started to reshuffle his team. Was it a…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
“Is everything OK, Prime Minister?”
The Prime Minister’s speech to the CBI, in which he enthused about Peppa Pig and lost his place for 20 excruciating seconds, has caused concern in Government…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Sleaze into Another Week
As Boris Johnson struggles to shake off questions about standards and MPs’ second jobs, what’s the latest in the never-ending row gripping Westminster? Also…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
“Not Remotely A Corrupt Country”
As the Owen Paterson mess unspools to expose Geoffrey Cox’s novel approach to working from home and much more, has the Government set off a multi-polar…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
A Massive Owen Goal
In a series of unforced errors, the Government first whips its MPs to rescind the suspension of OWEN PATERSON MP for lobbying and rethink the entire Commons…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentBudget post-mortem: A new age of optimism?
On 27 October, Rishi Sunak presented his third budget and the first multiyear spending review since 2015. Now the dust has settled, what did we learn? Why was…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Budget Review: Have Your Twix and Eat It
Fuelled by a Twix and a can of Sprite, Chancellor Rishi Sunak finally set out his budget and multi-year spending review on Wednesday, we take a look at his…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentBudget Preview: Rishi Business
This week’s Budget is Rishi Sunak’s third – but the first he’s undertaken outside of firefighting mode. What can we expect? Will Sunak be able to finally put…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
The David Amess murder: Will politics change?
The murder of Sir David Amess MP has shocked the political world deeply. With the threat level to MPs now assessed as “significant”, how will this terrible…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentBrexit: An Early Frost
As the EU produces sweeping new proposals on previous red-line issues, can the Government really rewrite the Northern Ireland Protocol to everyone’s…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentThe Boris in the Bubble
Boris Johnson used his conference speech to promise higher wages, productivity and economic growth. But against a backdrop of petrol shortages, empty shelves…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Right Keir, Right Now?
After a bruising Brighton conference, has Keir Starmer strengthened his position as Labour leader? And did Rachel Reeves do enough to convince Britain that…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Levelling Up Means Levelling Up
“Levelling-up” was one of the key Conservative manifesto pledges at the last election, and now it even has its own government department and minister, but what…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Reshuffle Kerfuffle
As Boris Johnson’s long awaited cabinet reshuffle finally took place, who were the winners and losers from a day of drama in Whitehall? The Daily Telegraph’s…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
The Taxman Cometh
Parliament only returned on Monday, but is Boris Johnson already in trouble after his rise in National Insurance threatens to hit the working age young…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Afghanistan: From Great Game to Blame Game
The Western intervention in Afghanistan has petered out in ignominy. Who will carry the can for Britain’s biggest foreign policy disaster in half a century? As…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentSpecial: Summer governing, happened so fast
This edition recorded before the emergency of Afghanistan. What is it like running the country over the Summer recess in normal times? Should certain Foreign…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Afghanistan: Rage of the Commons
The recall of Parliament in the wake of Afghanistan’s catastrophic collapse produced one of the most passionate days the Commons has seen in many years – and a…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
The Afterlife Of Prime Ministers
Prime Ministerial careers tend to end abruptly and in tears. So what does an ex-PM do next? Are today’s Prime Ministers too young to fade away gracefully?…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Magic Johnsonism?
As Boris Johnson notches up two years in No.10, are we any closer to understanding what drives him? Is there such thing as an ideology in Boris’s world – a…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Boris’s End Of Term Report
As Parliament breaks up, how will the Government look back on this unique and turbulent term? As Boris Johnson tries to reset his leadership after some…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Where The Wild Pings Are
Freedom Week, a Pingdemic Party, or just a temporary holiday from restrictions that will inevitably come back in autumn? Does the Government really know what…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Levelling Up or Spreading the Jam?
Boris Johnson finally tells us what “levelling up” means – or does he? Is it about fixing up towns, enhancing job prospects or just more Boris boosterism? We…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
COVID: They think it’s all over
The Government’s rationale for unlocking aggressively is that the vaccine has broken the link between COVID infections and deaths. Is it a gamble, a sensible…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Hancock: Tryst Issues
What have we learned from the Hancock Affair and the messy defenestration of the former Health Secretary? In a murky world of ‘non-executive directors like…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
A Deal Down Under
Britain signs its first entirely new post-Brexit trade deal, with Australia. What does it mean for British farmers? Will shoppers notice the savings of 70p per…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
G7: There's Summit About Boris
As the G7 in Cornwall marks the first major summit of the post-COVID era, can Boris Johnson steer conversation away from the worsening Northern Ireland…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentEXTRA: Future Covid-19 scenarios: how can the world meet long-term threats?
Covid-19 will top the agenda at this month's G7 summit in Cornwall. As some countries lift restrictions and near the completion of vaccine rollouts, others…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
The PM: Why ‘unfitness for office’ doesn't matter
What divides the great Prime Ministers from the mediocre and the just plain bad? And how does Boris Johnson measure up in those stakes? Author of The…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Domolition Derby
What should we take from Dominic Cummings’ volcanic testimony before the Commons Heath, and Science and Technology committees, and his excoriation of Matt…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Travel: Are You An Amber Gambler?
Will the Indian Variant push back the Great Unlocking of June 21 that Boris Johnson has pinned so many hopes on? Are we looking at the return to tiers or even…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
The Third Way… by Boris Johnson?
What do the thirty bills in that very brief Queen’s Speech tell us about No.10’s true priorities, and whatever happened to social care? How is this…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Elections ’21: Sheer Hartlepool Attack
Was the seismic shock of the Conservative victory in Hartlepool down to Brexit, vaccines, pork barrel politics or something more fundamental? What does this…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Soft Furnishings, Hard Questions
The bill for renovating Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat, what he might have said about “bodies piling high” and Dominic Cummings’ blog revelations have…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Accessing your Flexible Friends
This week’s revelations about James Dyson’s text messages to Boris Johnson have worsened the fog of sleaze and added to accusations that this Government is an…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentThe Lobbying Scandal: ACOBA on the ropes
The relationship between a failing business and a former prime minister, lobbying in British politics, the rules that guide both ministers and civil servants…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Who Judges The Judges?
From runways at Heathrow to leaving the EU, the Government dislikes its decisions being challenged in court. Now it’s putting Judicial Review itself under the…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Disintegration Nation
As street violence convulses Northern Ireland, is the border in the Irish Sea producing exactly the crisis the Government were warned of? And will the expiry…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Scandal In The Wind
As new details emerge about Boris Johnson’s alleged affair with Jennifer Arcuri, the country seems strangely unmoved. Does personal morality really matter in…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
COVID: The Year of Indecision
A year on from Lockdown One, what have we learned – if anything – from the response to the once-in-a-century crisis of COVID? A new IfG paper identifies ten…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Warheads Revisited – Inside the Integrated Defence Review
What’s in the mammoth 114-page Integrated Review of Britain’s defence and foreign policy? Should we really be putting aircraft carriers in the South China Sea…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
The Only Way Is Sussex
Will the reverberations from Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey change the Monarchy? Is this a passing PR crisis or an existential moment for the…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentBudget 2021: Party like it’s 1969?
The highest level of public debt and highest tax burden since the late 1960s, the first increase in corporation tax since 1974, the largest net tax rise since…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Budget: The Four Hundred Billion Pound Man
Business was taken aback when Rishi Sunak raised its tax bill in this week’s Budget – but the sums Sunak is dealing with are eyewatering. Is there enough in…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentBudget 2021: To recovery and beyond?
On 3 March, Rishi Sunak will deliver his second Budget – almost a year on from the moment the government took the unprecedented step last spring to lockdown…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
EXTRA: Tony Blair on Coronavirus one year on
As we pass a year since the first case of Covid-19 was reported in the UK, the Institute for Government is delighted to welcome Tony Blair, Executive Chairman…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Blind Dates
Is new-look, cautious Boris Johnson’s step-by-step plan for unlocking too timid, or is it over-optimistic? Are vaccine passports workable, let alone defensible…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentLifting lockdown 2021
Ahead of the Prime Minister producing his new ‘roadmap’, we discuss the plans, priorities and politics for lifting the lockdown. Does the government know what…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Sundown for Lockdown?
As the Government prepares for the huge leap of unlocking, can it manage expectations from both a weary public and its own restive MPs? Rishi Sunak is about to…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentWhat next for the NHS?
The government has published its plans for reform of the NHS, with the first health service white paper in a decade setting out a series of major reforms. So…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Welcome To The Hotel Quarantina
Will the Government’s draconian plans for quarantine for travellers really work? How can ten years in prison and £10,000 fines be proportionate to the offence?…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Border Farce
Borders is borders? Impact from the EU’s aborted triggering of Article 16 of the NI Protocol continues to reverberate. Could the UK government really use this…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
COVID: Why won’t the Government learn?
If now is not the time to learn lessons from the COVID crisis, when is? We’re joined by writer, broadcaster and host of the Rock’n’Roll Politics podcast Steve…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentDirector’s Annual Lecture 2021
This is an audio recording of an IfG Live Event The Institute for Government hosted the annual lecture by Bronwen Maddox, its director. In her speech, Bronwen…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
No.10’s Command and Control Problem – plus Biden and Britain
What’s the reality of No.10’s control over government? Is our supposedly superpowered centre really strong enough to command all the organs of state? Do we…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Backlogs and Burnout: Will the NHS buckle?
COVID is on the verge of overwhelming the NHS but Britain is at least vaccinating faster than almost any other country. Almost a year since the first lockdown…
- Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
America’s Day of Chaos
The insurrectionary riot in Washington DC has shocked the world. What does it tell us about the fragility of democracies who come up against leaders who reject…
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentIFG LIVE SPECIAL The Brexit deal: An IfG briefing
A special cross-post from our IFG LIVE feed. The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement was published on Christmas Eve, just a week before the transition period…