Keir Starmer rewires the state: An interview with the prime minister

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Minutes after setting out his plans for reforming the civil service, abolishing NHS England, and ending ministerial reliance on quangos, Keir Starmer joined Inside Briefing for an exclusive interview with IfG director Hannah White. So what type of civil service does the PM need to deliver his missions? Why does he want to close down NHS England? And what should officials and ministers prepare for as the PM’s reform agenda becomes reality? Following the prime minister’s interview, Hannah was joined by Alex Thomas, Emma Norris, Stuart Hoddinott and former cabinet secretary Gus O’Donnell for expert analysis of the PM’s speech and his interview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
0:14.3	I'm Hannah White, and this week I'm joining you from Hull and with a very special guest,
0:19.9	because about an hour ago and we're recording
0:22.0	this around one o'clock on Thursday, the Prime Minister Kirstama was giving a speech a few yards
0:27.3	from where we're recording this podcast now about his vision for reforming the state.
0:32.6	We heard the PM set out plans for reforming the way government works, the civil service,
0:36.8	arms lengthed bodies, regulation ministers and more. And works, the civil service, arms-length bodies,
0:38.2	regulation, ministers and more, and how, in his words, people can be given a state that will
0:43.4	take care of the big questions, not a big estate, that asks more from them. He also announced
0:49.6	that he would be abolishing NHS England. Now, as regular listeners to this podcast will know,
0:55.9	these are very much the type of things that the IFG likes to think about. So, who better to join us
1:01.4	on Inside Briefing to talk about them than the PM himself? Prime Minister, welcome to inside
1:07.1	briefing. It's great to have you on the Institute for Government's podcast. Well, thank you for
1:10.4	having me. I'm really pleased to be able to do it. So I want to start with your vision for rewiring
1:15.1	the state. I think what's really interesting about you is that you are one of the only prime ministers
1:20.7	who's ever been a public official, the only one I think who's operated as a permanent secretary
1:25.5	in the system prior to coming into office.
1:28.2	So you have an insight into the system that you are trying to change that often political
1:33.5	leaders lack. So I think civil servants will be interested to hear from you sort of personally,
1:39.3	having operated within the system like they do, now coming in as Prime Minister trying to make the
1:44.7	system work for you. What does rewiring the state really mean for you personally?
1:49.8	Well, I draw on my experience in public service quite a lot. So I obviously ran the prosecution
	...

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