Accessing your Flexible Friends

INSIDE BRIEFING with Institute for Government

This week’s revelations about James Dyson’s text messages to Boris Johnson have worsened the fog of sleaze and added to accusations that this Government is an opaque chumocracy. Is it possible to keep government “permeable” to valuable outside talent without opening it to backroom favours? Special guest Adrian Masters, Political Editor of ITV Cymru Wales, joins us to explain what could be Wales's closest Parliamentary election of the Devolution era. And how well did the Government play the football Super League fiasco?

• “The Government might see direct messages as a way of getting quick solutions in a crisis. But if you’ve got the PM’s mobile number, do you get better access than anyone else?” – Cath Haddon
• “Politicians are the least trusted people in the country, so it’s entirely possible that voters will dismiss this as ‘just what politicians do’.” – Tim Durrant
• “There’s a danger that we overreact and we don’t get those valuable outside skills because we’re trying to prevent unfair financial advantage.” – Cath Haddon
• “It feels like this steady flow of revelations is building into a public moment.” – Tim Durrant

Presented by Bronwen with Cath Haddon, Tim Durrant and Akash Paun. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.

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