Special: Becoming A Minister Part 6 - Parliament

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2023

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There is no job quite like that of a government minister – and no training manual for how to do it. So what happens on the first day in the job? How can ministers manager the demands on their time? Are particular skills needed to get the best out of civil servants? Is there a trick to working with Number 10? What is the best way to handle a multi-billion pound departmental budget? And how can ministers master the art of navigating parliament? In this special six-part series from the Institute for Government, former ministers and civil servants reveal what it is really like to hold ministerial office and how to do the job well. You will hear all about the challenges, confusion, decisions and drama of a job which really is like no other. Presented by Tim Durrant, with Grant Dalton. Produced by Milo Hynes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Parliament is a building
0:11.3	but it's also a living breathing
0:16.3	animalistic organism
0:19.2	that depending on which day it has its own personality.
0:23.6	You are of Parliament. You've got to get over there and you've got to remember that.
0:29.6	The other thing is if you don't watch it, you stop becoming political.
0:33.6	The civil service don't remind you of your politics. That's not their job. Hello and welcome to the latest episode of our special inside briefing series
0:42.3	Becoming a Minister. In this series, former ministers and civil servants reveal what is really
0:47.3	like to hold ministerial office and how to do the job well. You will hear all about the challenges,
0:52.3	confusion, decisions and drama of a job which really is like no other.
0:57.8	My name is Tim Durant, Programme Director for Ministers at the IFG.
1:01.4	Today, in the final episode of this special Inside Briefing series, we're talking about Parliament.
1:06.6	Because all ministers are also members of Parliament, either in the House of Commons or the Lords,
1:14.6	and they all have to juggle their ministerial and parliamentary responsibilities. So how do ministers find a balance between those demands, as well as finding time for their constituents in their busy diaries?
1:20.6	How do they navigate parliamentary questions, select committee appearances and managing legislation?
1:24.6	And how good is the civil service at supporting ministers in
1:27.9	parliament? We'll hear why ministers must prioritise Parliament and being political, what their day-to-day
1:33.0	life in Parliament is like, and what the one thing you should never ever do in Parliament is.
1:38.5	For all MPs and Lords, once you get the call to become a minister, your life and your parliamentary
1:42.6	career completely change.
1:48.6	Estelle Morris, later Education Secretary, was appointed as a junior minister in the Department for Education and Employment after the Labour landslide of 1997.
1:52.5	She found that becoming a minister transformed her relationship with Parliament.
	...

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