Wes Streeting’s government health-check

Drop the excuses culture. Stop complaining about civil servants. And just get it right the first time rather than repeatedly U-turning. Wes Streeting didn’t hold back at the IfG conference this week – so what does the health secretary’s verdict on the government say about Keir Starmer and the challenges he and his ministers face in 2026?

Wes Streeting, Mel Stride, Darren Jones, Louise Casey, Andy Burnham, Michael Gove, Ayesha Hazarika and Ed Balls all joined the IfG annual conference to discuss what government is doing right, what it is getting wrong, and what it needs to do differently. We discuss the fascinating, headline-making and thought provoking day – as well as discovering which government minister’s job title wins the highest Scrabble score.

The performance of the civil service was a theme that recurred throughout the conference. What does rewiring the state really mean? Is it even happening? What are the reforms that Whitehall really needs? This week also saw the publication of the IfG’s annual Whitehall Monitor, our flagship stocktake of the size, shape and performance of the civil service. It’s packed with data and analysis – and its lead author joins the podcast to tell us all about it.