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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 No10, the Treasury and the rest of government function more effectively? What can Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves do to achieve faster economic growth? What will Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives and the other opposition parties do to hold the government to account? How might Donald Trump shape British politics – and how could the UK’s relations with the EU change in the years ahead?
Get behind the scenes in Westminster, Whitehall and beyond on the weekly podcast from Britain’s leading governmental think tank, where we analyse the latest events in politics and explain what they mean. Every week on Inside Briefing, IfG director Hannah White and the team welcomes special guests for a thought-provoking conversation on what makes government work – and how to fix it when it doesn’t.

INSIDE BRIEFING with Institute for Government

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 rewiring of the state. The start - apparently - of the government’s delivery phase. A government-defining budget. Some government-disrupting leadership challenges - real or imagined. And every now and then someone called Donald Trump crashes into the picture. 

The IfG team and the Financial Times’s Public Policy Editor look back on an eventful 12 months and pick out the big moments of 2025 - the most significant stories, the big political developments, and the key appointments that could shape the year ahead. Not all of these will have made huge headlines. Perhaps they should have done - let’s see. 

 

Presented by Alex Thomas

Featuring Chris Smyth, Jill Rutter, Stuart Hoddinott and Catherine Haddon
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2025 in Review: Starmer's Year of Drama

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 plans and statements overshadowed or knocked off course.

Despite this chaos and confusion, Trump appears authentic and able to galvanise his base while other, more conventional, political communicators struggle to get their message across.

So is Trump rewriting the rules for government communications? Does the UK have sufficient safeguards against our political leaders adopting Trump’s attitude to facts? Does the UK have robust enough rules to ensure that government communications serve the public not partisan interest? And how is it possible to plan government communications when those plans are constantly blown away by overnight developments in the US?

To discuss these questions and more, the Institute for Government, in partnership with Vuelio, was delighted to bring together an expert panel including:

 
Katy Balls, Washington Editor for The Times

 
Simon Baugh, Chief Executive of Government Communications, 2021–25

 
Alastair Campbell, former No.10 Chief Press Secretary (1997–2000) and No.10 Director of Communications (2000–03) and presenter of the Rest is Politics podcast.

 
Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government

This webinar was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government. 

We would like to thank Vuelio for kindly supporting this event.
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The Trump challenge: Chaos, confusion and government communications

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 Lords after a series of battles between the government and the second chamber. So what lies behind the battle, what might happen and will it make a difference to the long-running debate about Lords reform?

And finally... Sajid Javid says he lost faith in Boris Johnson’s leadership, Simon Hart says the Sunak government nearly collapsed over the Rwanda bill and Theresa Villiers says that WhatsApp group chats were critical to defeating Theresa May’s Brexit deal. We speak to the team behind our latest Ministers Reflect series.

Hannah White presents

With Akash Paun, Jack Pannell and Rebecca McKee
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Four mayors delayed, three ministers reflect, and a House of Lords battle renewed

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 finances. So what did happen in the budget pitch-rolling and what does this tell us about how well the UK does budgets? Could we, should we, do them differently? 

Plus - the Justice Secretary has revealed his plans for changes to jury trials. We dig into the latest news. 

Hannah White presents

With Gemma Tetlow, Alex Thomas and Cassia Rowland 
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Should the U.K. do budgets differently?

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 what challenges now lie ahead for Keir Starmer’s government?

 

To answer these questions and more, this budget day webinar from the IfG brought together an expert line up featuring Dan Haile, Jill Rutter, and Giles Wilkes. The webinar was chaired by Dr Hannah White.
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Autumn budget 2025: What is Rachel Reeves’ plan for the economy?

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 election, the political context in Scotland ahead of the crucial UK budget, and the SNP’s vision for Scotland’s constitutional future.

John Swinney was in conversation with Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, followed by a Q&A with the live and online audience. 
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In conversation with John Swinney MSP, First Minister of Scotland

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 final instalment of the IFG’s public services Performance Tracker. We talked to the team about the government’s record on public services since the election, where the greatest risks lie and what the Prime Minister needs to do to turn things around before the end of this Parliament.

Presented by Catherine Haddon.

With Nick Davies, Cassia Rowland, and Jill Rutter.
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John Swinney’s goals for Scotland

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 is briefing the media. So what does this all say about how Number 10 is working, or not, and what impact does this type of row have across government?

 

PLUS: Wes Streeting really wants to be talking about his plans for turning around NHS performance. But our new report has some mixed news about how that is going. 

 

Catherine Haddon presents.

With Alex Thomas, Jill Rutter, and Stuart Hoddinott.
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Keir Starmer’s government: Traitors or Faithfuls?

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 people are listening

 

Stewart Wood and Giles Winn, former advisers to Gordon Brown and Philip Hammond, join this special Inside Briefing episode to reveal how chancellors get ahead of the big day in parliament – and give their verdict on Rachel Reeves’ attempts to set the scene for the November 26 budget.

 

Presented by Gemma Tetlow.

With Jill Rutter.
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Rachel Reeves and the art of pitch rolling the Budget

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’ve been weighing it up.

 

Plus: Labour’s historic poll low. What do the numbers say about the state of British politics?

 

Hannah White presents.

With Alex Thomas.
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Home Office truths with Shabana Mahmood

“You need to persuade the Civil Service. Attacking them is not the way to do it.” As Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff during the New Labour years, Jonathan Powell trod the path of radical reform that Dominic Cummings now walks. In this extended version of his interview in this week’s INSIDE BRIEFING, he tells Sam Macrory of the hidden pitfalls of rapid government reform, the perils of absentee opposition, and the real possibility of the UK breaking up over Brexit.
“I think Boris Johnson will survive this year, politically,” he says. “But I don’t think Dominic Cummings will.”
Interview by Sam Macrory. Audio production by Alex Rees.
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BONUS: Jonathan Powell – “What I discovered in No.10 is how LITTLE power you have”

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