It's moments like this that tell you what a government is about, because moments like this also tell you about leadership.

So said Kirstama earlier this week. So what exactly is the Prime Minister trying to tell us?

I'm Hannah White and this is Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.

The straight-feworthy. I'm Hannah White and this is Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government. The Straits of Hormers remain blocked and the cost of oil is rising. The Prime Minister has offered

£53 million in support for low-income families affected by the cost of heating oil. And the

Treasury is looking at other more targeted options for support.

But how prepared is the government and how healthy is the economy for dealing with a situation like this one?

Rachel Reeves has been setting out how she would bolster the economy,

with the Chancellor having delivered a speech promising more financial devolution to English mayors

and closer

practical alignment with the EU. We will look into that lecture and what it means in policy terms.

And finally, should we fire all the permanent secretaries and directors general and replace them

with true believers? No, not a new IFG report, but the latest policy from Reform UK on the civil service.

We'll get into what we think about that and what we think the civil service really needs.

With me, for all of that, is Associate Director Hannah Keenan, who leads our civil service work.

Hi, Hannah.

Hi, Hannah.

And also joining me is Senior Fellow, Giles Wilkes, fresh from rewatching that Mays lecture.

Hi, Giles. Hi, both, Hannahs. An embarrassment of Hammers. And for this first part of the pod today,

we are also joined by Rosa Hodgkin, senior researcher in our policymaking team, an expert on

all things energy resilience. Good to have you, Rosa.

Hi, Hannah's and Giles. So with a conflict in the Middle East showing no signs of easing,

...