INSIDE BRIEFING with 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 from a civil rights perspective? And if Rishi Sunak will do “whatever it takes” to get the economy back on its feet, what can we expect from next week’s COVID Budget? Plus: just how many czars do we need?
This week’s special guest is Ben Riley-Smith, the Daily Telegraph’s newly-appointed political editor, fresh from returning from Washington. 


“No.10 will be pretty pleased with the reaction to the unlocking plans so far. Polls say only a tiny proportion of people think he’s going too quickly.” – Ben Riley-Smith



“The Government is keen to do this slowly to ensure that it’s irreversible.” – Ben Riley-Smith


Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Tim Durrant, Gemma Tetlow and Tom Sasse. Audio production by Robin Leeburn

 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

These are tumultuous times in UK politics. Government is under strain, the civil service is under pressure, and ministers are grappling with the fallout of Covid, the impact of Brexit and an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. 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? And as a general election draws ever nearer, what are the key political and policy dividing lines – and what do they mean for the way this country is run? 
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 welcome special guests for a free-ranging conversation on what makes government work – and how to fix it when it doesn’t.