Gray Goes Gracefully?

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With Sue Gray making headlines again, the IfG podcast team are joined by former Conservative MP Sir David Lidington to make sense of a big Whitehall and Westminster career move and ask what it might mean for Labour and the civil service. Plus: What do Matt Hancock's WhatsApp messages tell us about how government works – and how it didn't during the pandemic? How did Rishi Sunak come up with a Brexit deal that seems to please everyone – except maybe Boris Johnson and the DUP – and is the Windsor Framework actually any good? And why doesn't the centre of government seem to work very well? The IfG is launching a new Commission to examine the problem – and come up with solutions. Presented by Hannah White. With Alex Thomas, Jill Rutter 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 Hannah White.
0:15.3	It's been a week of Brexit deals and COVID drama and Sue Gray is back in the news, so just
0:20.2	like the old days really.
0:21.6	The news broke about an hour before recording this podcast on Thursday afternoon that Sue
0:25.6	Gray, former keeper of government secrets, author of that report, and until today, permanent
0:30.6	secretary in charge of the Constitution and the Union, is to join Labour as Kirstama's
0:35.6	Chief of Staff. We'll digest that news and what it means for the civil service and its impartiality.
0:42.2	Someone who might be happy with the Sue Gray headlines is Matt Hancock because his WhatsApp messages have been dominating the news.
0:49.1	There's a lot of them and care of the telegraph. They are everywhere. So what do they reveal about how government
0:54.5	works and how key figures dealt with the pandemic? From one defining government crisis to another,
1:00.4	Brexit, because we've got a deal on that. It seems that most people are happy with. Well,
1:06.0	maybe not Boris Johnson and the DUP. We'll explore what exactly Rishi Sunak has come up with and what it means.
1:12.6	And what does all this have in common? If you look back over well about 100 years, a pattern emerges.
1:17.8	The centre of government doesn't always function as well as it should. The new IFG Commission
1:22.5	we launched this week will examine the problems and come up with some solutions.
1:27.6	Joining me throughout our IFG Senior Fellow and Abid Brexit Watcher, Jill Rutter,
1:32.9	Tim Durant, our Associate Director and Resident WhatsApp expert, and Programme Director Alex
1:37.4	Thomas. Hi all.
1:38.6	Hello, Hannah.
1:39.5	And I'm delighted that we're joined today by someone who has worked right in the heart
1:42.9	of government and is the
	...

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