If you think Westminster is a boring boys’ club, why not join ours?

youannounced freebies, tax affairs, questionable appointments and now a possible corporate espionage scandal. There’s never a dull moment in Westminster, but right now it’s in crisis mode again.

So what better moment to bring you something new? Independent A podcast from two people who have spent years making sense of the nonsense in the rooms where the biggest decisions in Whitehall are made.

We, Cleo Watson, former deputy chief of staff to Boris Johnson, and Helen MacNamara, who was also deputy cabinet secretary with Boris Johnson, bring a different perspective to our previous political campaigning and public service work.

Theoretically, as a private consultant and a civil servant, we were supposed to be on different sides of the debate. But most of the time, we worked together to keep the government running despite the madness. Not all of it was created by Johnson.

We called the show in the room Because that’s what we can talk about. From the outside, the government’s actions today may not make much sense. How can you screw up a change so badly? How have you tied yourself in an ethical knot due to numerous scandals, parliamentary squabbles or policy announcements? Why do they always get it wrong? What was the mistake made weeks ago that is the real source of today’s bad headlines?

We held leadership elections and general elections. Expense scandals and imprudent appointments. Brexit from the inside out, from prorogation to No Deal planning. We were there when Theresa May won the confidence vote in 2018 and then lost it in 2019. There, as a new virus ravaged Britain, two in eight briefed that the NHS would be overthrown “within a matter of weeks”. We were part of dozens of hirings and firings; we have seen (and created) the ebb and flow of power at the heart of government in real time.

For this reason, in the room It draws on our experience of having these discussions when mistakes are made in a very short time on zero sleep – the mistakes we promise will come back to haunt you – and the right decisions are made and prove productive for years to come.

It will not come as news to anyone that governing the country is difficult. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done well. We hope this in the room It will help explain what’s going on and why politicians and advisers have made it seem so difficult time and time again. Come in for analysis from two people who really know what they’re talking about. Stay for tea.

Then, of course, there is this: as part of the fallout from the Epstein/Mandelson scandal, we have heard claims that one of the reasons for the turmoil is that there are not enough women in these chambers of power and that a destructive boys’ club runs Westminster. Baroness Harman last week called for the appointment of a female first minister: literally putting a stronger woman in the room.

This was particularly acute during the pandemic; This was particularly acute when we talked about domestic violence (incidents have skyrocketed as people are confined to their homes), abortion (even though the government remains undecided on what to do about abortion and contraception provisions), and PPE that actually fits women’s bodies. We don’t like the idea that men left to their own devices can’t make good decisions. But sometimes we can talk and understand how different it is to be the only woman in the conversation.

Here we are. Every week for the last six months we regretted not starting this podcast sooner. But still, something different happens every week. Tune in every Friday starting now to hear what went wrong this week and how it can be fixed.

Hear more from Cleo and Helen ‘In the Room’ podcastAvailable every Friday starting February 20 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, And on YouTube.