Big announcements locked in, a carefully constructed media grid signed off.

Press releases dispatched.

Yes, Kirstama was all set for an agenda seizing start to 26, but once again,

Donald Trump was making other plans. This time,

plans involving other countries. Happy New Year, Prime Minister. I'm Hannah White, and this is

Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government. Well, whatever anyone's predictions

for the year ahead, nobody needed a crystal wall to find out which world leader was going to dominate

the next 12 months. A US military strike on Venezuela resulted in the capture of Nicolas Maduro,

with the country's now ousted leader due to go on trial in New York. Donald Trump says

the US will now run Venezuela and the president and his team have also been making ominous statements

about Cuba, Colombia, and closer to home, Greenland. So what does this mean for NATO? And how

will Kirstarma approach the Trump challenge in 26? We'll explore the PM's foreign policy

options. And what about Stama's divestic agenda? Labor is still lagging in the polls, and rumours of leadership challenges have not gone away over the festive period.

But the Prime Minister insists he is here to stay and believes that 2026 will be the year that the UK turns the corner.

So is his government really built to do things differently?

And is there even time to shift the way

government works when each day brings new challenges, pressures and headaches? We will take a look.

We are back again in the IFG studio, fortunately, because it's probably the warmest room in our building.

And I'm here with Alex Thomas. Hi, Alex. How was your Christmas?

It was very good. Thank you, Hannah. Spending time with the family, some crisp winter walks. I also think I mostly managed to avoid political podcasts for at least, you know, a few days. So that was probably a healthy break. Excellent. And Hannah Keenan, Associate Director on our Civil Service team, is here too. Hi, Hannah. Did you get a proper break from thinking about how Whitehall works?

Why would I ever want such a big? Correct answer. And I am delighted that we are joined by Lawrence Friedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College London and co-author of a hugely

popular substack with his son and RFG senior fellow Sam Friedman. Thank you so much for joining

...