When Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak cross the Downing Street threshold, Britain’s most senior civil servant will take them into the cabinet room to brief them on nuclear codes, critical national security threats and vital economic data. Gus O’Donnell was that civil servant and oversaw the transition from Blair to Brown, and Brown to Cameron. Lord O’Donnell has some candid advice for the next PM on how to rebuild trust with the British people.

And following his death, can a line be drawn from Mikhail Gorbachev and what is happening in Ukraine today? We speak to the journalists Allan Little and Anne Applebaum.

Producer: Gabriel Radus

Planning: Melissa Tutesigensi

Deputy Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Dino Sofos

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