The Flint Podcast

This podcast is part of our Flint briefing series on the Israel-Hamas crisis and will offer listeners our analysis of developments in the conflict, the risks of escalation, diplomatic activity and the potential wider international consequences. Our previous call on 'The wider implications of the Hamas attack on Israel' can be found here.

The conflict in Gaza is set to continue, with widespread and enduring implications for the region and international politics. Flint Partner Alex White hosts our expert panel to discuss this further:

• Flint co-founder and former Permanent Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Sir Simon Fraser
• Flint Partner and Middle East lead, former Bahraini diplomat, Hayfa Matar
• Flint’s new US Senior Adviser and former US diplomat, Matthew Lehrfeld

Hamas‘ attack on Israel on Saturday is a very serious political, geopolitical, and psychological shock. The situation on the ground is still developing. There will be further violence, and the attack will have widespread and enduring implications – for Israel, the wider region and global politics.

In this podcast, Flint Partner Alex White hosts a discussion on the political, economic and security consequences of the conflict between Flint experts: 

• Flint co-founder and former Permanent Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Sir Simon Fraser
• Flint Partner and Middle East lead, former Bahraini diplomat, Hayfa Matar
• Flint’s new US Senior Adviser and former US diplomat, Matthew Lehrfeld

In this podcast, we examine the key announcements and speeches from Labour Leader Keir Starmer and the Shadow Cabinet. As well as, Labour’s emerging policy programme, its strategy for the general election, and what all of this means for a potential future Labour government. 

Finally, we discuss why this matters for business and what are the key points to watch in the weeks and months ahead.  

 Partner Kiran Horwich is joined by Flint Specialist Partners:  

• Siôn Simon – a former Labour MP, MEP, Metro Mayor candidate and minister in the last Labour government 
• Josh Simons – Director of Labour Together and a former Policy Advisor at Labour HQ  
• Dame Sue Owen – former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport 

In this podcast, Partner Kiran Horwich is joined by Flint experts Specialist Partner Sir Julian King (former British EU Commissioner and Ambassador to France), Senior Adviser Bruno Maçães (former Portuguese minister for European affairs) and Partner Alex White (Head of Flint’s Markets and Investors practice) to examine the situation in Russia following the events of the past few days.

Flint Specialist Partner Philip Rycroft (lead official on devolution and constitution issues in the UK government from 2012 to 2019) was joined by 56˚ North Partners Fiona Stanton (former senior Scottish Labour director) and John Penman (former political and business journalist and FTSE-100 communications director during 2014 Scottish referendum) to talk about the appointment of Humza Yousaf as Scotland's new first minister after the SNP leadership contest. 

Partner Liam Cullen sits down with former Taoiseach of Ireland to reflect on the Good Friday Agreement 25 years on and the lessons learnt for the Windsor Framework.

Partner Kiran Horwich discusses the latest Budget announced on 15 March by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt with Flint Partner Tim Pitt (former Special Adviser to Chancellors Sajid Javid and Philip Hammond) and Specialist Partner Giles Wilkes (former Business and Economy Adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May in No10).

Managing Partner Simon Fraser is joined by Sir Lawrence Freedman (Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London), Flint Specialist Partner Sir Julian King (UK EU Commissioner 2016-19) and Partner Sam Lowe (expert in UK and EU trade policy) to take stock of where things stand and discuss how the conflict in Ukraine may evolve in its second year.

Flint Partner Josh Buckland is joined by Flint experts Mary Starks former Executive Director for Consumers and Markets at the UK energy regulator Ofgem, Gregor Kreuzhuber, former advisor to two EU Commissioners and Francois-Joseph Schichan, former diplomat and political adviser to various French Ambassadors to discuss where next for the energy market.

Senior Adviser Thomas Matussek discusses Germany's relationship with Poland in an interview on Times Radio.