Working to make government more effective

President Donald Trump during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos
Podcast

Keir Starmer’s Trump diplomacy and Darren Jones’s fast fixes

Lord Maude joins us in the studio to discuss the latest government reform plans.

In a week when Donald Trump has been escalating his threats to NATO member states over Greenland, Darren Jones was on the home front ensuring that the government’s desire to transform government was also continuing. So what is the chief secretary to the prime minister planning? Is it enough to meet the challenges he has identified, and what will the plans need to do to actually see change? We get stuck into the latest government reform plans, joined by Francis Maude, a previous minister for civil service reform.

And of course it is still 2026, it is still January. So Donald Trump is still dominating all other news. We will discuss the latest challenges he has thrown at the UK government and reflect on what it means for UK-US relations, the Starmer approach to Trump diplomacy and what we learned at a special event we held this week reflecting on the president’s first year back in office.

People featured in this episode

Related content

20 FEB 2026 Podcast

All roads lead to Romeo

The IfG's experts are in the studio to discuss the tasks ahead for new cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo, ethical standards and local elections U-turn.

03 MAR 2026 Podcast

Trump vs Iran: Is the UK ready for war?

Sir Alex Younger, former head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), joins us to discuss what the US strikes on Iran mean for global security.