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There’s been much debate about reforming public services at the Conservative Party Conference this week. But as Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, noted, too often it feels like the Establishment talking to itself. So amongst the numerous fringe meetings on public service reform, it was good to see one, hosted by the RSA, that looked at how to engage the public on these crucial issues. Ben Page...
In preparation for the new political season, last week the Prime Minister had one of his regular sessions with his advisers to discuss strategy. As his team gathered in Downing Street to plan their approach for the coming months, they would have been wise to leave plenty of time to discuss police reform. The fall-out from the riots, the ongoing News International saga and the implementation of "...
A think tank launches a critical report questioning Government policy, and the minister hits back appearing on Today describing the analysis as flawed. It's a familiar spectacle to Westminster watchers. This time the think tank in question was the SMF, which unveiled research suggesting that the Government's welfare-to-work scheme (the Work Programme), is at real risk of financial collapse, with ...
With Craig Oliver, former Head of BBC Global News, taking up his new role as the David Cameron’s communications chief, it’s a good time to reflect on the No 10 spin machine. So, it was a well-timed event at the Institute for Government that brought policy wonks, civil servants, journalists and academics together with an expert panel to discuss the future of news handling at the centre of Gov...
So Barack Obama has been given a bloody nose by the Republicans in the midterm elections. Despite some overexcited punditry, this shouldn’t be a surprise– it’s common for US Presidents to suffer in these national polls, just as British governments invariably perform badly in by-elections. While it’s a bad day for the White House, Team Obama can draw some comforting parallels from recent...
For those of us who have been following Conservative party conferences for many years, there's something very different about this year's gathering in Birmingham. It's not just that this is their first conference in government for thirteen years (albeit in coalition with the Liberal Democrats which few observers realistically predicted last time the party gathered). Nor is it that this year's con...
Rory Scanlan, director of Fishburn Hedges, gave his thoughts on the 2010 general election recently in a 'soap box' article published in PR Week. It’s easy to forget how brutal British politics can be. Nowhere is this seen more vividly than when a defeated PM is turfed out of No10 within hours of the polls closing. In many countries a change of administration is a more orderly process. US Pre...
