Westminster Insider
Aug 17, 2023
Westminster Insider trailer
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Westminster Insider will be back next Friday! Hosts Aggie Chambre and Ailbhe Rea chat about what to expect from season 11 of the weekly podcast from POLITICO.
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More episodes from Westminster Insider
5 days ago
Is Westminster ready for the return of Donald Trump?
With opinion polls showing Donald Trump beating President Joe Biden in key battleground states a year out from the next U.S. election, podcast host Jack Blanchard asks whether Westminster is even remotely ready for the prospect of a second Trump presidency.
Britain's former Ambassador to the U.S. Kim Darroch and ex-Downing Street comms chief Katie Perrior recall their own interactions with Trump during his first tenure as president, while Keir Starmer's former chief of staff Chris Ward considers how the Labour leader might respond to Trump's special brand of diplomacy if he becomes prime minister next year.
Polling guru Joe Bedell of Stack Data Strategy sets out just how likely Trump really is to win again in 2024, while POLITICO's own Eugene Daniels — co-author of our Washington D.C. Playbook emails — explains the political factors driving Trump's seemingly unlikely return.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Nov 16, 2023
How to get sacked from government
In the week U.K Home Secretary Suella Braverman was finally sacked, host Aggie Chambre asks what you actually have to do to get fired from the government — and what the calculations are for the leaders doing the firing.
Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader, recalls his "underhand" sacking of two junior ministers, while Cleo Watson, a former deputy chief of staff at Downing Street, reveals the secrets of the reshuffle whiteboard.
Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan tells Aggie what really happened when she was sacked by Theresa May in 2016, and the "awkward" conversation that followed. And May's ex-chief of staff Gavin Barwell lifts the lid on what it's like to sack a minister — in this case Gavin Williamson — embroiled in scandal.
Former Chief Whip Wendy Morton talks through her approach to sacking people, while former minister Matt Warman reveals what it was like being sacked by Morton.
And Tory MP Paul Bristow — who was sacked as a government aide last month — explains why he has no regrets.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Nov 9, 2023
Revenge of The Blob
Britain's civil service is under fire like never before — criticised as an obstructionist "blob" by ministers and castigated for a "terrifyingly sh*t" response to the COVID-19 pandemic by former Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings.
So what do U.K. government officials — normally banned from speaking to the media — actually make of it all?
This week in a special 'focus group' episode, five former mid-ranking civil servants sit down with host Aggie Chambre to lift the lid on life inside Whitehall.
The panelists, who worked in departments across government — one for as long as 30 years — tell Aggie about the deteriorating relationship between ministers and officials, and about how difficult all that Whitehall bureaucracy makes their jobs.
They discuss how rare it is for anyone to actually get fired from the civil service — and even reveal the secret formula for getting promoted which works almost every time.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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