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Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2021

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
0:14.3	I'm Bronwyn Maddox.
0:16.1	It is the scandal that won't go away, but it is the scandal which could now go anyway.
0:21.3	Awkward questions for David Cameron and his work with financier, Lex Greenshill,
0:25.2	have become awkward questions across Westminster and Whitehall.
0:28.7	They're about access, standards, ethics, and the rules governing the jobs that ministers
0:33.4	and civil servants can do after and sometimes during their work in government.
0:37.8	We're going to look at what might happen next and what should happen next.
0:41.9	All this, as the UK braces itself, for a set of really critical elections across England, Wales, Scotland, in London, other cities.
0:50.9	This week, we're heading virtually to Cardiff to get a sense of what's at stake in next month's Welsh Parliament elections. Is independent suddenly a live issue? We'll dial
0:59.0	up the IFG's resident expert. Joining me today is a dynamic IFG duo. We've got Tim Durant, our
1:05.4	associate director, who's been leading our response on the latest lobbying scandal. Hi, Tim.
1:09.8	Hello. We've got Kath Haddon,
1:12.9	IFG Senior Fellow and Expert on All Things Constitutional. Hi, Kath. Hi, Bronwyn. I'm delighted that
1:18.5	we're joined in the virtual studio by Adrian Masters, political editor of ITV, Cymoury Wales. Hi, Adrian.
1:24.9	Hi, Bronwyn. Thank you very much for inviting me. Great. Where are you talking to us today from?
1:29.8	Well, I'm actually from Newport at the moment, which is where I live, but I'll be relocating to the
1:34.8	ITV studio in Cardiff straight after this. Brilliant. Well, thank you very, very much for joining us.
1:41.9	Okay, let's kick off with Greenville and ethics and all that. David Cameron
1:47.7	has famously tripped himself up over football in the past, was it Aston Villa or West Ham that he
1:52.0	supported, even he seemed to forget, but football came to his aid this week when the botched
1:57.2	breakaway European Super League bumped the Sill saga from the front pages.
	...

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