Working to make government more effective

Working to make government more effective

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Podcast

Preparing for Power – Episode 1: Access talks

Harriet Harman and Gus O'Donnell reveal how they prepared for that all-important election result and its aftermath.

Whoever forms the next government will need to be prepared. The job begins almost as soon as the votes have been counted.

So what is it like to go from opposition to government overnight? How do civil servants get ready for the possibility of a transition of power or a hung parliament? And what is it like for a governing party to continue in power after a bruising campaign?

In this six-part series, the Institute for Government takes you behind the scenes to find out how our politicians, their advisers and officials block out the noise of a general election campaign to get ready for being in government. We’ll be speaking to former ministers, special advisers and senior civil servants to discover how they prepared for that all important election result and its aftermath, to hear their secrets, and to work out the lessons for 2024.

What we talked about on this episode

Topic
Parliament and the constitution Civil service
Keywords
General election Shadow cabinet Official opposition Cabinet Civil servants
Political party
Conservative Labour
Position
Prime minister Leader of the opposition
Administration
Sunak government Blair government Brown government Cameron-Clegg coalition government Cameron government
Department
Number 10
Public figures
Rishi Sunak Keir Starmer
Publisher
Institute for Government

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