“Is everything OK, Prime Minister?”

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2021

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Prime Minister’s speech to the CBI, in which he enthused about Peppa Pig and lost his place for 20 excruciating seconds, has caused concern in Government. Is all ok inside Number 10, or was this just the PM being himself? It’s not all plain sailing in the Commons either, as the Government suffered a big rebellion over plans to reform social care, and the row over standards in public life continues. Our special guest ROBERT SHRIMSLEY, Chief Political Commentator at the FT, joins us to discuss. “The problem is, this is the Prime Minister. He thrives on this chaotic approach and he has always relied on it.” - ROBERT SHRIMSLEY “The vaccine task force did well, but when you have money and momentum behind you that task becomes easier.” - ALEX THOMAS “Those who will benefit the most from social care plan are those with the most expensive houses, inevitably in the South.” - ROBERT SHRIMSLEY “The whips need to get a handle on this because the more MPs get a taste of rebellion, the more likely it is to happen.” - HANNAH WHITE “Johnson was elected as good-time premier, but COVID has wrecked the finances.” - ROBERT SHRIMSLEY Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Hannah White, Alex Thomas and Graham Atkins. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG. https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk 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.
0:14.6	I'm Bronwyn Maddox. Forgive me, forgive me, there's only one place to start, and that's the Prime Minister's speech
0:20.9	at the CBI.
0:22.3	Boris Johnson's oration, which included a tour of Pepper Pig World, and the painful
0:26.8	pause when he lost his place, has been seized on by the Labour Party, lampooned by Antendek,
0:32.6	and it's caused concern in government ranks.
0:34.9	So is the Prime Minister okay, as one interview asked? Is number 10 okay?
0:39.2	Or was this just the Prime Minister being himself? We're going to take a look at that.
0:43.3	More seriously, perhaps, for his premiership, Boris Johnson is having a rough time in the House
0:48.2	of Commons. The government won a vote on its plans to reform social care, but a large number
0:53.0	of Tory MPs rebelled or abstained.
0:55.3	That followed a week after the government unveiled what has been seen as a watering down of its plans for rail in the north and other commitments there.
1:03.8	Are these broken promises or just different versions of what was promised?
1:07.8	More of that to come as well.
1:09.3	And then we're going to end by looking ahead to next week and the latest instalment in the row over standards in public life. That one has not gone
1:15.7	away yet either. Joining me today to discuss it all are the IFGs Alex, Alex, Programme Director for
1:20.5	our civil service work. Hi Alex. Hello, Bromond. Great to have you here. Hannah White,
1:24.3	our Deputy Director is back again. Hi, Hannah. Hi, Bowen. And I've delighted as well to be
1:28.6	joined by Robert Shrimsley, chief political commentator at the Financial Times. Hi, Robert, how's
1:32.8	things? Very good, thanks. Great. Thanks for joining us. Well, let's start with that speech of the
1:38.5	Prime Ministers. Is he okay? A question asked by one intrepid journalist and repeated by
1:43.4	Labour leader, Kirstama, followed
	...

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