The secrets of being a government minister

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Being a minister is a job like no other. No briefing, no training and, sometimes, no warning – from day one a new minister could find themselves making high-stakes decisions with huge consequences for the country. So getting some advice from people that have been a minister can be useful – and the IfG’s Ministers Reflect series is the place to start. Over the past 10 years, the Institute for Government has interviewed more than 170 former ministers from the UK and devolved governments about their time in office To mark the 10th anniversary of Ministers Reflect, this special edition of Inside Briefing, featuring guests including Jeremy Hunt, Una O’Brien and Marie Le Conte, takes a look at what former ministers have told us in the last decade. Essential listening for anyone wanting to understanding what it is like to be a minister – and especially for anyone who might want to become one. Presented by Sachin Savur and Paddy McAlary Produced by Candice McKenzie Additional recordings by Milo Hynes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Yes, I think you can get brilliant advice from your predecessors.
0:12.0	I drove down to my constituency and I thought I've got an hour in the car, so I'm going to call a few ex-chancellors
0:19.0	and I called, you know, Philip Hammond and Sajidavid and, and Sajid Javid actually said, he has a background in the city.
0:26.6	He said, you need to watch what's going to happen to the markets on Monday morning?
0:30.6	I would sometimes find myself in the weird position of pushing back at ex-ministers going,
0:34.6	Are you sure you want that our record?
0:40.7	Being a minister is a job like no other.
0:43.5	They make life-changing policy decisions every day.
0:47.2	They lead organisations of hundreds or thousands of civil servants,
0:50.0	and they represent the government in the media and in Parliament.
0:53.8	So there's a lot we can learn from those who have done these unique jobs, how they set their
0:55.0	priorities and work with the government machine to deliver them.
0:58.5	Luckily, the Institute for Government has interviewed more than 170 former ministers from the UK
1:02.9	and devolved governments about their time in office as part of the Ministers Reflect series.
1:08.0	This is a special episode of Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
1:12.4	I'm Sachin Sever, a researcher at the IFG, and we're marking 10 years since we started our Ministers
1:17.4	Reflect project. So what can we learn from a decade's worth of these interviews? We'll be speaking to
1:23.0	politicians, civil servants, academics and journalists to find out what former ministers have to tell us.
1:28.7	Their stories and advice, they gossip and their grapes, their achievements and regrets.
1:33.9	I'm joined by my colleague, Paddy McAlari, a research assistant at the IFG.
1:38.5	Patty, what these interviews actually like?
1:41.4	Well, here's what former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said at a recent
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Institute for Government, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Institute for Government and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.