#MinistersReflect

A quote from Sajid Javid in his IfG's Ministers Reflect interview: “I did say to the prime minister, 'Dominic Cummings is running rings around you, and you can't even see it.'”

A quote from Simon Hart in his IfG Ministers Reflect interview: “The temptation was to just leave anything which didn’t have a natural home to be dealt with by the whips.”

A quote from Theresa Villiers in her IfG Ministers Reflect interview: "I'd assumed that I'd had my one shot at government."

NEW 🚨 Today we have launched three new #MinistersReflect with former chancellor Sajid Javid, former chief whip Simon Hart and former Defra secretary Theresa Villiers about their time in the May, Johnson and Sunak governments.

Read their interviews www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

"You can make really profound long-term changes. I would say to any minister today: focus on that, because one day it’s all going to be gone."

Today we've launched a new #MinistersReflect with former chancellor Jeremy Hunt - read the full interview www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

"The one big difference between public sector and private... is that you can't fail as the government, you can fail as a business." Paul Scully, Minister for tech and the digital economy (2023)

Well, it’s the first rung of becoming a minister, so it’s basically an unpaid ministerial role – we sort of called ourselves the parliamentary private dogsbodies really." Rebecca Pow, Parliamentary under secretary of state for nature (2022-24)

"Don’t think about the next job – think about doing this job well." John Glen, Paymaster general and minister for the Cabinet Office (2023-24)

"I don’t recommend opposition – it is a thankless task – but having spent five years in opposition as shadow schools minister was advantageous to us." Nick Gibb, Minister of state (2022-23)

NEW | Today we've launched four #MinistersReflect interviews featuring reflections from junior ministers over 14 years of Conservative government.

📖 Read the full interviews with @scullyps.bsky.social, Rebecca Pow, John Glen and Nick Gibb www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

A quote from Nicola Sturgeon, former first minister of Scotland. "There is so much I am very proud of. Obviously there are lots of things I wish I'd done better or differently and things that I didn't even try to do that I wish I had [...] I think there will be kids today that grow up into adulthood with better opportunity and better success in life because of [the Scottish Child Payment] policy now making a real difference."

As Nicola Sturgeon announces plans to stand down as an MSP at the Holyrood election next year, check out her #MinistersReflect interview in which she discusses her experience as first minister of Scotland and shares her proudest achievements www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

"I learnt very early on that the Treasury was a law unto itself and would do things that were damaging to other government departments without any consultation." John Denham Secretary of state for communities and local government (2009-10) #MinistersReflect

In our new #MinistersReflect series, @jydenham.bsky.social, former Secretary of state for communities and local government, discusses the surprises and challenges of coming into government.

Read the full interview 👇
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

"We used to make considered speeches, politicians used to read books - they don't anymore." Clare Short Secretary of state for international development (1997-2003) #MinistersReflect

"We used to make considered speeches, politicians used to read books - they don't anymore."

In this new #MinistersReflect interview, Clare Short discusses setting up and leading the Department for International Development.

Read the full interview📄
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

"One of the reasons the vaccine project was such a success is because we kept it out of No.10 and the Cabinet Office." Matt Hancock Secretary of state for health and social care (2018-2021) #MinistersReflect

"One of the reasons the vaccine project was such a success is because we kept it out of No.10 and the Cabinet Office."

In this #MinistersReflect interview, Matt Hancock discusses running the Department of Health during the pandemic.

Read in full👇
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

"One of the things I felt very, very strongly throughout was that I was making the best decisions I could in the circumstances." Matt Hancock Secretary of state for health and social care (2018-2021) #MinistersReflect

"The Foreign Office had made a big effort to prevent the Department (for International Development) becoming an independent government department." Clare Short Secretary of state for international development (1997-2003) #MinistersReflect

"90% of the decisions you take would be taken by any sane, rational human being and the next 10% would have been taken by a Labour minister and of that, there's about 2% that might have happened because it was you." John Denham Secretary of state for communities and local government (2009-10) #MinistersReflect

[NEW] Today we have published our new wave of #MinistersReflect interviews, featuring Matt Hancock, Clare Short, and @jydenham.bsky.social

📄Read them in full
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

The IfG #MinistersReflect archive just got even better! We interview former ministers on their experiences, how they found the role & their advice for others in their shoes. Today we've published a bumper pack of reflections from Scottish & Welsh gov ministers, inc 3 first ministers. Check it out!

Ministers Reflect | Institute for Government Interviews with former ministers on the realities of the role and how to be effective in government.

As Storm Bert moves on and the clean-up begins, what can ministers learn from how their predecessors dealt with flooding? Well, they can ask their colleagues - or read their interviews in the @instituteforgov.bsky.social #MinistersReflect interviews

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

Machinery of government aside, many of the former ministers for women interviewed for our #MinistersReflect interviews spoke of their achievements in the role