The Trump challenge: Chaos, confusion and government communications
Inside Briefing with the Institute for GovernmentShow Notes
According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first term as US president – and Trump 2.0 has also shown little regard for facts or evidence. Unexpected presidential announcements are made on social media or in press conferences, and Trump’s positions can appear to change overnight. Leaders of other countries, including Keir Starmer, find their own plans and statements overshadowed or knocked off course.
Despite this chaos and confusion, Trump appears authentic and able to galvanise his base while other, more conventional, political communicators struggle to get their message across.
So is Trump rewriting the rules for government communications? Does the UK have sufficient safeguards against our political leaders adopting Trump’s attitude to facts? Does the UK have robust enough rules to ensure that government communications serve the public not partisan interest? And how is it possible to plan government communications when those plans are constantly blown away by overnight developments in the US?
To discuss these questions and more, the Institute for Government, in partnership with Vuelio, was delighted to bring together an expert panel including:
Katy Balls, Washington Editor for The Times
Simon Baugh, Chief Executive of Government Communications, 2021–25
Alastair Campbell, former No.10 Chief Press Secretary (1997–2000) and No.10 Director of Communications (2000–03) and presenter of the Rest is Politics podcast.
Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government
This webinar was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.
We would like to thank Vuelio for kindly supporting this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More from Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
The budget is nearly here. So what is chancellor John Healey going to say at the Despatch Box on Wednesday? The Observer’s Ben Zaranko joins the podcast team to preview the biggest day yet in Andy Burnham’s premiership.
With Andy Burnham trying to navigate the ever-precarious tightrope that is doing diplomacy with Donald Trump’s White House, Anand Menon joins the podcast team to weigh up the prime minister’s prospects.Burnham is also exploring a new relationship with Europe, but could that really mean reversing Brexit?Plus: Can the government fix the criminal justice system. A new IfG report has given its verdict on the performance of prisons, courts, the police and more - some good, some bad, lots of decisions for the PM to make.Presented by Alex Thomas.With Jill Rutter and Cassia Rowland.Producer by Podmasters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Another by-election, another win for Andy Burnham - with the Greens defeated in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Deltapoll's Joe Twyman joins the pod team to explore what the PM’s by-election double really tells us about his electoral prospects.
No lectern. No tie. And quite a few tears. Andy Burnham promised a different kind of speech. But did the prime minister deliver?
From meeting Donald Trump in New York to heading to his first Labour conference as prime minister, it's quite some week for Andy Burnham - so what does he need to do to make a success of Labour's Liverpool gathering? LabourList editor Emma Burnell joins the podcast team to review Burnham's Trump test and preview his conference challenge.