Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Was the seismic shock of the Conservative victory in Hartlepool down to Brexit, vaccines, pork barrel politics or something more fundamental? What does this shock by-election mean for the endless battle between Starmer and the Corbynites? In the local elections, are the so-called Green and Lib Dem surges real? And what we know so far about the Scottish and Welsh national elections – all in a Friday afternoon interim election special. • “Journalists will be thumbing over this for days – but political scientists will be looking at the causes for years to come.” – Cath Haddon• “The trend towards this has been decades in the making.” – Jess SargeantPresented by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon, Akash Paun and Jess Sargeant. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 added up to a nightmare week for the Prime Minister. Special guest Stephen Daisley of The Spectator and Scottish Daily Mail joins us to ask if Johnson can weather it and if new ministerial standards advisor Christopher Geidt has the powers he needs.Plus, could the fall of Arlene Foster lead to a harder-line DUP leadership and even another breakdown of government in Northern Ireland? And we take a deep dive into the realities of Scotland’s potential independent future.  “The question is, Has the PM done anything that would put him on the wrong side of Ted Hastings from Line Of Duty?” – Stephen Daisley “The Gove and Henry Newman faction is much in the ascendant and we’re seeing a clear-out of the Vote Leave people.” – Stephen Daisley “For the French, the scandal is that Boris Johnson hasn’t spent ENOUGH on his wallpaper…” – Stephen Daisley Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Gemma Tetlow, Jill Rutter, Cath Haddon and Graham Atkins. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 opaque chumocracy. Is it possible to keep government “permeable” to valuable outside talent without opening it to backroom favours? Special guest Adrian Masters, Political Editor of ITV Cymru Wales, joins us to explain what could be Wales's closest Parliamentary election of the Devolution era. And how well did the Government play the football Super League fiasco? “The Government might see direct messages as a way of getting quick solutions in a crisis. But if you’ve got the PM’s mobile number, do you get better access than anyone else?” – Cath Haddon “Politicians are the least trusted people in the country, so it’s entirely possible that voters will dismiss this as ‘just what politicians do’.” – Tim Durrant “There’s a danger that we overreact and we don’t get those valuable outside skills because we’re trying to prevent unfair financial advantage.” – Cath Haddon “It feels like this steady flow of revelations is building into a public moment.” – Tim Durrant Presented by Bronwen with Cath Haddon, Tim Durrant and Akash Paun. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The relationship between a failing business and a former prime minister, lobbying in British politics, the rules that guide both ministers and civil servants, and the wider state of standards in public life. Along with former prime minister David Cameron, the Greensill saga has now dragged a growing list of former and current government ministers and officials into its orbit. And it shows no sign of calming down.So what are the latest developments, what rules have been broken, what rules aren’t good enough and will the various inquiries now launched actually fix anything?A special INSIDE BRIEFING EXTRA brings together IfG’s experts on ministers, civil servants and standards in public life to make sense of it all – and look at the current rules and what now needs to change.With Hannah White, IfG deputy director and a former secretary of the committee on Standards in Public Life Tim Durrant, IfG associate director, former civil servant and lead for IfG work on ministers Alex Thomas, IfG programme director and a former civil servant at the heart of government Presented by Catherine Haddon, IfG senior fellowAudio production by Candice McKenzie See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 spotlight. A new IfG report asks if that’s a wise course of action. Plus, are COVID passports really our Get Out Of Corona Jail card? Will they even work? And will they be using them in Parliament?This week’s special guest is Sir Jonathan Jones, head of the government legal service from 2014 to 2020.  “Good policymaking and lawful policymaking ought to be two sides of the same coin.” – Jonathan Jones “Brexit has heightened the temperature around judicial review against the Government.” - Cath Haddon “Boris Johnson himself is a big fan of COVID passports… and that means a lot.” – Raphael Hogarth “If policy on vaccine passports is flaky then that’s going to risk a serious challenge.” – Jonathan Jones Presented by Hannah White with Cath Haddon, Raphael Hogarth and Tom Sasse. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 of the Grace Period make things worse? Special guest Ailbhe Rea, the New Statesman’s political correspondent and host of its podcast, explains what’s behind the tensions. Plus, will elections in Scotland and Wales push the UK closer to break-up? And No.10’s growing vaccine confidence problem.  “The Union is under the biggest threat it’s seen since the crisis in Ireland that created it.” – Jill Rutter “Paramilitary makes them sound more glamorous than they are. They’re just criminal gangs and drug dealers.” – Ailbhe Rea “Unionists have been forced to accept something that waters down their sense of being part of the UK.” – Jill Rutter Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Jill Rutter, Jess Sergeant and Akash Paun. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As new details emerge about Boris Johnson’s alleged affair with Jennifer Arcuri, the country seems strangely unmoved. Does personal morality really matter in leaders? And should we be thinking about the money not the sex? Plus, what does the unravelling Greensill saga tell us about backdoor access to government? Has David Cameron actually broken any rules? And we look at the trade realities that an independent Scotland would have to face. The Sunday Times's Whitehall Correspondent Gabriel Pogrund is our special guest for this one hundredth edition.  “It’s not for journalists to moralise about Johnson’s private life. What matters is that Jennifer Arcuri received public money.” – Gabriel Pogrund “The British public are gloriously indifferent as to whether their leaders have poor personal morality.” – Giles Wilkes “How was it that this guy who had just left a bank was able to inveigle himself into the heart of Government?” – Gabriel Pogrund “Greensill is not just about the rules, it’s about ethical principles. And there’s a risk to public perception over what Cameron chose to do.” – Hannah White “The SNP are taking a leaf out of Vote Leave’s book. It doesn’t help to be too candid.” – Gabriel Pogrund Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Hannah White, Giles Wilkes, Jess Sergeant and Akash Paun. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 urgent lessons that government needs to learn. And if there is to be a Public Inquiry, what should it seek to discover? Plus, as the post-EU Transition Period ends, does the real Brexit start here? And what problems has the Government’s approach stored up? The Guardian’s Rafael Behr is our special guest.  “Boris Johnson wanted to play the role of the happy-go-lucky leader and it just did not equip him for delivering the bad news and hard decisions that the crisis demanded.” – Rafael Behr  “There’s a clichéd Yes Minister view that the Civil Service elite know better than operational systems on the ground… But the pandemic turned that on its head.” – Alex Thomas “I fear that the current Prime Minister will quickly seal off the disaster site, bulldoze the black boxes and claim it’s time to move on.” – Rafael Behr Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Maddy Thimont-Jack, Rhys Clyne and Alex Thomas. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 and lifting the caps on nuclear warheads? And can the Government really re-tilt Britain from Europe to the “Indo-Pacific”? Plus, what will be the fallout from the murder of Sarah Everard and the Met’s disastrous mishandling of a subsequent vigil for policing and women’s safety? Our special guests are Sophia Gaston, Director of the British Foreign Policy group, and former senior advisor to Tony Blair John McTernan.  “This review is a totally clean break from the polarised rhetoric of the Brexit era… This is not a pieces of boosterish British exceptionalism. ” – Sophia Gaston  “Nuclear decisions are never just about the deterrent. They’re about how you’re perceived at the top table.” – Cath Haddon  “Britain wants to be the leading European presence in the Indo-Pacific region… And that means some negotiation with the EU to say the least.” – Sophia Gaston  “This doesn’t feel like a properly authored policy. It’s cut and paste. It’s gesture.” – John McTernan  Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon and Alex Thomas. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Monarchy? And how do you carry out an inquiry into an institution as impenetrable as “the Firm”? Plus, as schools return en masse, can we rely on the £37bn Test and Trace system when inquiries have shown it to have made little to no contribution to the fight against COVID? And is the much-derided 1% pay proposal for NHS staff just Boris Johnson’s next U-Turn in waiting? This week’s special guest is CNN’s Luke McGee.  “It’s an institution in crisis but it’s also a family in crisis.” – Cath Haddon “If you look at polling around Meghan and Harry’s generation, they do think it’s absurd to bow and curtsey to your grandmother.” – Luke McGee “If the Government thinks a 1% rise is sufficient for the NHS, it will have to work hard to explain how that’s going to help NHS recruitment.” – Graham Atkins Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon, Alex Thomas and Graham Atkins. Audio production by Alex Rees See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices