We look back on a tumultuous year in politics, from the Owen Paterson debacle to the endless Christmas party scandals, from the shame of Afghanistan to Lord Frost melting away. Has Boris Johnson’s approach of muddling through at the last minute run out of road? And will he try to reassert control by amping up conflict with the EU?
Plus what’s coming in 2022, from the Levelling Up White Paper, to elections across the UK and especially Northern Ireland, to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.


“In a matter of weeks Boris Johnson went from looking like nothing could stop him to a journalist asking if everything was OK.” – CATH HADDON



“I wonder if the Christmas party stories would have been so big if the narrative hadn’t already started to move against Johnson.” – ALEX THOMAS



“Johnson has clearly alienated a huge tranche of his backbenchers… Johnson looks like a prisoner of his own party.” – JILL RUTTER



“This is the end for the moment of the Johnson playbook of ‘never apologise, never explain’.” – ALEX THOMAS



“We’ve seen repeated questioning of No.10’s ability to handle crises – or just escalated them and make them worse than they ever were.” – CATH HADDON



“If Johnson keeps asking his backbenchers to vote for things he himself then fails to support, that creates real focused anger on the backbenches.” – ALEX THOMAS



Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Cath Haddon, Jill Rutter and Alex Thomas. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG