83. The Man Who Ran Downing Street

Leading

Goalhanger Podcasts

Politics, Government, News

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What are prime ministers really like behind closed doors? How do you become Britain’s most powerful civil servant? Are special advisors a force for good or ill? On today’s episode of Leading, Rory and Alastair are joined by Gus O’Donnell, the former Cabinet Secretary and Head of Civil Service, to answer all these questions and more. TRIP Plus: Become a member of The Rest Is Politics Plus to support the podcast, receive our exclusive newsletter, enjoy ad-free listening to both TRIP and Leading, benefit from discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, join our Discord chatroom, and receive early access to live show tickets and Question Time episodes. Just head to therestispolitics.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestispolitics. TRIP TOUR: To buy tickets for our October Tour, just head to www.therestispolitics.com Instagram: @restispolitics Twitter: @RestIsPolitics Email: [email protected] Audio Editor: Nathan Copelin Video Editor: Teo Ayodeji-Ansell Social Producer: Jess Kidson Assistant Producer: Fiona Douglas Producer: Nicole Maslen Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Head of Content: Tom Whiter Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for listening to the rest is politics, sign up to the rest is politics plus to enjoy
0:04.0	ad free listening and receive a weekly newsletter join our members chat room again
0:07.4	early access to live show tickets. Just go to the rest is politics dot com.
0:11.0	That's the rest is politics dot com. This episode is
0:14.4	is brought to you by Shopify. Looking to start a side hustle or become your
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0:25.2	control and grow your own business.
0:27.0	So get serious about selling and get Shopify today.
0:29.9	Sign up for a one pound per month trial period
0:32.2	at Shopify.
0:33.0	Coe dek slash special offer, all lowercase.
0:36.2	That Shopify dot coe dek slash special offer. Welcome to the rest is politics leading with me Rory Stewart
0:49.5	and with me Alisto Campbell and we're absolutely delighted to have today's guest because if
0:55.2	Kiastarma becomes Prime Minister, the first person he would meet after walking through
1:00.4	the most famous front door in the country is the head of the civil service,
1:03.7	the cabinet secretary. And the last time there was a change of party in government, 2010,
1:09.2	today's guest was the man who greeted David Cameron as he walked through the door 14 years ago and that man was and is
1:17.2	Gus O'Donnell. I'd been in the building that day with Gordon Brown hours earlier and we got kicked out after Gordon accepted the election was over and
1:25.8	Gus stayed there because he's part of the civil service the permanent civil service and I've known
1:30.7	Gus since the 80s I I think, when I was a
1:32.8	journalist and he was a press secretary. He's an economist by training. He became
	...

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