Sunak gambles as Starmer u-turns

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The King’s health has dominated the news this week, but the prime minister has been making controversial headlines with his televised bet with Piers Morgan and a major PMQs bust-up with Keir Starmer. It hasn't been an easy couple of days for the Labour leader either, with Starmer dropping his £28bn green pledge – but will voters notice? Plus: How can we fix the NHS? This week sees the publication of the Times Health Commission. Its chair, Rachel Sylvester, is this week’s guest. Hannah White presents, with Cath Haddon and Stuart Hoddinott. 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. I'm Hannah White.
0:15.2	Rishi Sunak has been making headlines all week, but not in a good way. There was already plenty
0:20.6	at stake for the Prime Minister
0:21.5	of this year, but now he has better £1,000 with Pierce Morgan that his Rwandas scheme will
0:25.7	succeed. He also found himself under fire for a retort to Kirstama during PMQ's, and a whole
0:31.9	load of Conservative MPs, including former Neighbours' star, Holly Valance, have been calling for a new
0:37.4	kind of popular
0:38.3	conservatism. For Labour, meanwhile, the election feels just that bit closer after this week. The
0:43.0	party's deadline for finalising its draft manifesto has passed, we understand, and at the same time,
0:48.0	it has found itself on the defensive after the government published its official costing of
0:52.0	some opposition policies. And finally, we've heard today the death knell sounded something where I think we saw coming,
0:59.1	but has finally been acknowledged by the Labour Party for its 28 billion investment in the green economy.
1:04.4	So we'll be talking about all of that.
1:06.5	One safe bet for the months ahead is that we'll be hearing more and more about the NHS.
1:10.8	Rishi Sunak has admitted that the government has failed on a pledge to cut NHS waiting lists
1:14.5	in England. So what needs to be done about our health services? This week, the Times Health
1:18.6	Commission published its final report and recommendations will we're going to speak to its author.
1:23.0	Joining me throughout our IFG duo Catherine Haddon and Stuart Hoddenut. Hi both. Hi, Hannah. Hello.
1:28.5	And I'm delighted that we're joined again by Rachel Sylvester, columnist at the Times and chair of the Times Health Commission.
1:33.7	Hi, Rachel. Thank you for joining us. Very nice to be here. To start with, I wanted to turn briefly to the story that started the week, and that's the health of the King.
1:42.0	It was confirmed by the Palace that Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer and will step away from public duties for the immediate
1:48.0	future while he undergoes treatment. Kath, we were getting quite a lot of calls from journalists
	...

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