The Podcast
About
The briefing room for those shaping Britain's digital future.
The Digital State started from a straightforward observation: the decisions made at the boundary of government and technology are among the most consequential in British public life, and the public debate around them is often poor.
We bring in the people doing the work: permanent secretaries, technology executives, defence advisors, and City figures, and ask the questions that most commentators skip over. This is not a technology podcast. It is a podcast about decisions, and about the people who make them.
Each episode is a single, extended conversation. No panel format, no roundtable. Our guests are not performing. They are thinking.
The Co-Hosts
Paul Scully
Former MP & Minister for Technology
Paul Scully served as Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam from 2015, and held ministerial roles across London, Small Business, Technology and Digital. As a Government Minister with direct responsibility for the UK's technology and digital economy agenda, he developed a rare fluency in both legislative process and the commercial realities of digital transformation.
His experience spans the full arc of technology policymaking — from early debates on platform regulation to the emergence of the national AI strategy. He brings to The Digital State an insider's understanding of how policy is actually made, what constrains it, and where the real leverage lies.
Asad Ansari
Managing Partner, Mayfair IT Consultancy
Asad Ansari leads Mayfair IT Consultancy, one of the UK's most respected independent technology advisory practices, specialising in data and artificial intelligence across Whitehall, defence, and FTSE-listed organisations. He serves on the board of the RAF Museum and as an Advisor to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Asad's value to The Digital State is precisely this: he has sat in the rooms where the decisions are implemented, seen what breaks, and understands the gap between policy intent and operational reality. His questions are the ones civil servants sometimes cannot ask.
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