The usual cut and thrust of politics took a backseat this as the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report blamed “decades of failure by central government” and the “systematic dishonesty” of multimillion-dollar companies for a fire which killed 72 people. Sam Coates of Sky News joins the podcast team to discuss the inquiry’s findings – and what happens next.

Elsewhere in Westminster the focus a row featuring cabinet secretary Simon Case and the up and downs of the Conservative leadership contenders – so who has had a good week?

PLUS: Who has served as a minister? Which roles have they held? What dates were they in office? All the answers can be found in the fantastic IfG Ministers Database, which launched this week.

Hannah White presents.

With Jill Rutter, Emma Norris and Philip Nye.

Produced by Candice McKenzie.

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The prime minister followed Tuesday’s Oasis-fuelled Cool Britannia nostalgia with a rather gloomier vision of Britain in 2024 – with a speech that heaped blame on the last government for the tough choices to come. So will things only get worse? The Guardian’s Jess Elgot joins the podcast team to respond to Keir Starmer’s speech – and look ahead to Monday’s return of parliament.

The failure to fix the housing crisis stretches way back to the 1990s – so why have successive governments failed to build the homes the country needs? A new IfG report takes a tour through history – and has some solutions for the future. Plus: What is like to be a minister who takes maternity leave – and is the system working? Another new IfG report speaks to six former ministers.

Hannah White presents, with Jess Elgot, Joe Owen, Sophie Metcalfe and Nicola Blacklaws Produced by Podmasters

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What is the difference between a spad and pad? How should people be fast-tracked into big government jobs? And is Labour going about this process the right way – or committing a series of unforced errors? 

With the new government on the defensive after a string of eyebrow-raising appointments to civil service roles, ConservativeHome’s Henry Hill joins the podcast team to make sense of the row – and explore where Keir Starmer and Sue Gray might have questions to answer.  Plus: Does Rachel Reeves have any money to spend?

Presented by Hannah White with Alex Thomas and Jill Rutter. Produced by Milo Hynes 

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk

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As the IfG knows all too well, government sometimes – perhaps often – doesn’t seem to work. So who or what is to blame? Sam Freedman, IfG senior fellow and author of Failed State: Why nothing works and how to fix it, joins Hannah White for a fascinating discussion about what has gone wrong – and how to make it right.

From a stuttering civil service to a stumbling parliament, failed prime ministers and fraught permanent secretaries, Hannah and Sam take a journey through the failures of British governance – and explore what reforms the Labour government could introduce to help turn the system around.

Produced by Milo Hynes.

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The Olympic Games is all about sport – but it is unavoidably also all about the politics. So two days after the opening ceremony, the IfG team assembled its crack team of sporting fanatics to discuss the links between power and the Olympic Games. 

From claiming credit to trying to duck the blame, prime ministers, presidents and mayors are as involved as any athlete – signing off on bids to host the games, settling on multi-billion budgets, being booed in the stands, and keeping fingers crossed that everything runs smoothly. So just how political are the Paris 2024 Olympics Games? And how do they compare with what has come before – including the 1908, 1948 and 2012 Games in London – and what might follow in Los Angeles, Brisbane and the Games of the future?

Podcaster, academic, historian and author David Runciman returns to Inside Briefing for a fascinating tour through the ever-changing relationship between sport and the Olympics that has defined over a century of successful (and not so successful) Games. Hannah White presents with Jill Rutter.

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Special Advisers are some of the most important yet misunderstood figures in government. They play vital roles – as the voice of their minister in the department, shaping policy agendas and managing the media. 

As a new government gets up and running and scores of new SpAds get to grips with their roles, this four part series lifts the lid on what SpAds do, how they do it, and why they’re indispensable to modern government. 

In this final episode, we look at how SpAd careers end. We start with reshuffles – what’s it like to go through a reshuffle as a SpAd, and how do you find out when one’s about to begin? We also discuss what it’s like to lose one of these jobs and how little notice you really get. 

Finally, we finish the episode and the series by asking our interviewees to reflect on their time in government. What would they do differently if they had their time again? What are they most proud of? And what advice would they give to future SpAds? 

Presented by Jack Worlidge. Produced by Candice McKenzie.

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Rachel Reeves has revealed a “£22bn black hole” in the public finances. So do the chancellor’s sums add up and what is her plan for balancing the books? Sonia Khan, a former Treasury special adviser, joins the IfG podcast team to discuss the changing of the ministerial guard at the Treasury and the politics of spending reviews.

Talking of spending reviews, is there a better way to go about running them? A new IfG paper has the answers. And is the civil service set up to deliver for a mission-led government? Another new IfG paper reveals 20 ways to overhaul Whitehall.

Plus: Braced for Badenoch? Poised for Patel? Time for Tugenhadt? We preview the Conservative leadership contest.

Hannah White presents, with Tom Pope and Jack Worlidge. Produced by Candice McKenzie

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Special Advisers are some of the most important yet misunderstood figures in government. They play vital roles – as the voice of their minister in the department, shaping policy agendas and managing the media. As a new government gets up and running and scores of new SpAds get to grips with their roles, this four part series lifts the lid on what SpAds do, how they do it, and why they’re indispensable to modern government. 

In the third episode, we look at how SpAds’ work extends beyond their own departments. Government is complicated, so no-one can do one of these jobs effectively without working with other departments across Whitehall. 

Most SpAds will be in regular contact with the centre – No10 and the Treasury. So how do those relationships work? How powerful is No10 in reality, and what’s it like to negotiate with the Treasury? SpAds also need to work effectively with other departments, so we discuss the importance of the cross-government SpAd network. Finally, we hear about the importance of maintaining good relations with those outside government – including Parliament, their party, and external stakeholders. 

Presented by Jack Worlidge. Produced by Candice McKenzie.

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There’s only one story in town – actually, there’s only one story on the planet. And that’s Joe Biden’s decision to pull out of the presidential race – and vice president Kamala Harris’ coronation as the new Democrat candidate to face Donald Trump in November. Mark Landler of the New York Times is back on the podcast to reflect on an absolutely momentous week in US politics, what Biden’s exit means for the presidential race, and what this all means for the UK.

PLUS: What is the government’s public service inheritance – and how will public services look by the next general election if the government sticks to its spending plans? A new IfG report has the answers.

Hannah White presents, with Alex Thomas and Stuart Hoddinott. Produced by Candice McKenzie.

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Special Advisers are some of the most important yet misunderstood figures in government. They play vital roles – as the voice of their minister in the department, shaping policy agendas and managing the media.
As a new government gets up and running and scores of new SpAds get to grips with their roles, this four part series lifts the lid on what SpAds do, how they do it, and why they’re indispensable to modern government.
In the second episode, we’re focusing on how important relationships are to any SpAd’s job. We start by discussing the importance of trust and understanding between SpAds and their secretary of state – how is this relationship built, and why is it so critical? And what about junior ministers – how do SpAds work with them?
The link between SpAds and the civil servants they work with is also vital. We look at their links with both the secretary of state’s and their own private offices, as well as what they thought about the civil service overall, and whether anything frustrated them.

Presented by Jack Worlidge. Produced by Candice McKenzie.

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The pace of British politics isn’t slowing down. A big international summit for Keir Starmer. Devastating Covid inquiry headlines. And a King’s Speech full of bills.

But all this is nothing compared to the US. President Biden – now isolating with Covid – is under pressure to withdraw from the 2024 race, and his rival Donald Trump survived, by millimetres, an assassination attempt. 

The FT’s Lucy Fisher hot-foots it from Blenheim Palace to join the podcast team to make sense of big events either side of the Atlantic.

Presented by Hannah White, with Alex Thomas and Rosa Hodgkin

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk 

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