The Boris in the Bubble

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2021

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Boris Johnson used his conference speech to promise higher wages, productivity and economic growth. But against a backdrop of petrol shortages, empty shelves and a mass cull of healthy pigs, is he really leading an economic revolution akin to Thatcher’s? And the fallout from Germany’s federal election continues. Berlin-based author and commentator John Kampfner joins us to discuss who will form the next government, and the issues that could define Europe’s biggest power in the years ahead. “Johnson’s speech did the job for the party, but it felt incongruent with events happening elsewhere.” - Alex Thomas “If you look at the state of Britain, Labour should be on a roll, but Johnson carries the floor with unbridled optimism.” - John Kampfner “It wasn’t an anti-business conference, but there was a different attitude towards the state from previous years.” - Gemma Tetlow “Germany shows us that levelling-up is a vast, national project” - Alex Thomas Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Alex Thomas and Gemma Tetlow. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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.
0:14.5	I'm Bronwyn Maddox, joining you this week from Berlin.
0:17.6	But there's only one place to start, and that's Manchester, where I was earlier in the
0:21.3	week as well. Lots of upbeat speeches, not too much upbeat dancing. Yes, me conservative
0:26.5	conference is over, and we're going to take a look at what we learned. As petrol ran dry and
0:31.4	the supermarket shelves ran empty, the Prime Minister used his speech to insist that shortages of drivers,
0:36.6	abattoir workers and so on were just teething problems after Brexit
0:39.6	and that he was setting the country on the road to higher wages and productivity and more growth.
0:45.0	So is he right that he's leading an economic revolution comparable to Thatcher's?
0:49.0	Or are his plans economically illiterate, as one leading right of centre think tank called them.
0:54.6	And what's more, being improvised by the week?
0:56.7	We're going to dig into those questions.
0:58.7	We're then going to turn our attention to Germany, because an important election has recently
1:02.4	taken place, even if the identity of the new government is not yet quite clear.
1:07.2	Angela Merkel is still Chancellor, but not for much longer, probably.
1:10.7	So what's going on and what does it mean for running a country with coalitions?
1:14.4	And what role did wage policy play in those results?
1:18.4	To discuss all this, I'm delighted to be joined by two IFG survivors of the party conferences.
1:23.6	First, chief economist, Gemma Tetlow, hi Gemma.
1:26.1	Hello.
1:27.0	And Alex Thomas, who leads our work on the civil service.
1:29.3	Hi, Alex.
	...

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