Foreign Office Politics

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is the Foreign Office still a department built to deliver the UK’s global priorities in the 21st century or is it out of date in the way it looks and works? Is David Cameron’s comeback as foreign secretary turning out to be a surprise success and what has it meant for the UK’s diplomatic clout? And just how complicated is the civil job of servants when they are asked to work on controversial government foreign policy – particularly when it relates to military action or weapons sales. Former ambassador and No10 adviser Tom Fletcher, the co-author of new headline-making report into the future of UK international affairs, joins the podcast team to explore the UK’s status in the world, what it can achieve on the global stage, and what David Cameron's return to government has meant for the Foreign Office. Emma Norris presents, with Alex Thomas and Tim Durrant. Produced by Candice McKenzie 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.
0:13.7	I'm Emma Norris.
0:14.7	Parliament is still in recess, so this week's podcast is going to have something of an international flavour.
0:19.5	We're going to be taking a look at the Foreign Office. A new report has made headlines for suggesting that the department
0:24.0	needs a makeover and should put the colonial era paintings into storage. But there's a lot more
0:28.5	to the report than that, and its author will join us today. From Foreign Office to Foreign
0:32.4	Secretary, David Cameron, Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, to give him his full title, has been in the US
0:37.6	for meetings with, amongst others, Donald Trump. We'll look at what Cameron's up to and review
0:42.1	his performance since he returned to government. One of the biggest challenges facing Cameron,
0:46.4	in fact, facing foreign ministers, diplomats and leaders all over the world is the crisis in the
0:50.7	Middle East. It's also beginning to impact on the work of civil servants here in London too. We'll be taking a look at what's going on. Joining me throughout are a top
0:58.3	IFG duo, Alex Thomas, who runs our civil service program and Tim Durant, who leads all our work on
1:03.4	ministers. Hi both. Hi, Emma. And I'm delighted that we're also joined today by Tom Fletcher,
1:08.7	former ambassador, former foreign policy advisor at number 10,
1:11.6	the principal of Hartford College and one of the authors of the World in 2040 report.
1:15.9	Hi Tom, thanks for being with us.
1:17.8	Hi there. Thanks for having me on.
1:19.3	So we're going to start with that report and with the Foreign Office.
1:22.9	Tom, can you give us a quick lowdown? Who wrote the report with you? What's it for and what's it
1:27.9	trying to do? Well, thank you. I mean, it's been a fascinating week, actually. I mean, the report
1:31.7	came out on Monday. We got together towards the end of last year here at Hartford College, a really
1:38.5	interesting group of former national security advisors, former Permsex, former ambassadors, senior development people.
	...

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