Off the Record with Alistair Bunkall

Jonathan Powell was Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff from the moment he entered Downing St to the moment he left. He was at the Prime Minister's side for a decade in number 10. During that time they navigated the country through the terror attacks of 9/11 and 7/7, the death of Princess Diana, fuel strikes, foot and mouth disease and wars in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and of course, Iraq. He was also Blair’s chief negotiator for the Northern Ireland peace process. Today Jonathan put those skills to use, establishing secret back channels with insurgents and fragile states. “We cannot kill all the terrorists, so we will have to talk to them at some stage,” he once said. His work has taken him to North Korea, Libya, Afghanistan and Colombia. Jonathan Powell is now the man, who talks to terrorists.          

Marcus Wareing is one of the best known chefs in the world. The son of a fruit and veg merchant, his first job at just 18 years old was at The Savoy Hotel no less. From there he went to Le Gavroche where he worked under the legendary Roux brothers. It was there he also met and formed a friendship with Gordon Ramsay. They later had a very public falling out. Wareing followed Ramsay to Aubergine and then the pair set up Pétrus - they were formidable, young and at the top of their game. They would later have a very public falling out. Marcus has won multiple Michelin stars, his first when he was just 25.  He now owns two restaurants in London and has a television career as one of the main judges on Masterchef.

In recent years, Sir Mark Sedwill has been one of the most powerful people in Britain. He served as the Cabinet Secretary, the Head of the Civil Service and the UK’s National Security Advisor - Three roles that put him right at the centre of government. Unusually for a Cabinet Secretary, Sir Mark spent much of his career abroad, working as a diplomat in Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan, and then as Britain’s Ambassador to Afghanistan. Only twelve people, all of them men, have ever held the job of Cabinet Secretary. Although they are public figures, they historically have preferred to stay out of the headlines. In his first and only broadcast interview, Sir Mark spoke about the pressures of running government, the UK's response to Coronavirus and what would have happened in the Prime Minister hadn't recovered.  

In this episode Alistair chats with Dame Karen Pierce, Britain’s Ambassador to the United States. She is one of the great diplomats of her generation.  Karen has held posts for the Foreign Office in Tokyo and the Balkans before serving as the UK’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations in Geneva. In 2015 she was appointed 'Our Woman' in Afghanistan and the more recently served as the British Ambassador at the UN in New York. Because of the Coronavirus lockdown, this episode was recorded over Skype.

In this episode Alistair chats to Cheryl Giovannoni, the Chief Executive of the Girls Day School Trust. In that role she is responsible for 20,000 students and almost 4,000 members of staff across 25 girls schools around the country. But she is no teacher – Cheryl was originally an advertising exec, rising through the ranks of that competitive world to head up three companies in the global WPP group ending up as the CEO of the giant Ogilvy & Mather. She has competed in a man’s world and won – she now prepares the next generation of women to smash glass ceilings.  

Sir Alex Younger is the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6. As an intelligence officer, he served in Europe, the Middle East and was Station Chief in Afghanistan before taking up the top role. This is the first time ever that a serving Chief of MI6 has given a recorded interview. In conversation with Alistair Bunkall he speaks about life as a junior spy, the challenges facing his service and the world today and how his staff cope working in secret.

In this episode Alistair chats with Commander Will King, the Captain of a Royal Navy warship.   The conversation was recorded onboard HMS Montrose in the Gulf during the crisis with Iran. Moments earlier we had exited the high risk zone, having escorted three commercial tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.   For Cdr King and his crew, it was the end of a long, hot and extremely tense deployment.   We spoke about the events of one evening in July when his warship came close to firing on Iranian naval vessels - it would have brought the two countries close to war - and more generally the challenges of leadership on a ship at sea, for many months on end: morale, discipline and bravery.

In this episode Alistair chats with Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster. As the de facto Head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, he is both a leader and a spiritual guide for millions and is close to Pope Francis. During the conversation he opens up about his leadership of the church through the child sex abuse scandal, reveals a surprising inspiration, and has some wise advice for the new Prime Minister...

In this episode Alistair chats with Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO and former Prime Minister of Norway. Jens reveals what happened in the minutes after 2011 terror attacks in Norway and how he led the nation in response. And he talks about his experiences of Donald Trump, and how he handles the unpredictable US President.

Off the Record is an interview-based podcast about Leadership, in which the journalist Alistair Bunkall speaks to some of the world's great leaders from politics, sport, military, business and religion. In this short introduction, Alistair previews the series ahead.