debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Today has probably been the most interesting day in British politics since the general election in 2010. David Cameron has delivered his long-awaited speech on what he thinks the British future in the European Union should be. In his remarks, the British Prime Minister made clear that if he was to be reelected in 2015, [...]
Tomorrow’s speech by David Cameron will define him as a weak Prime Minister, being driven by his party, not by the national economic interest. In October 2011, he opposed committing to an in/out referendum because of the uncertainty it would create for the country. The only thing that has changed since then is he has [...]
The present EU budget dispute between David Cameron and the other European leaders, which concluded in its expected impasse, is of course an expression of deeper conflicts and divisions in Europe. And if the UK/EU dispute can be taken as emblematic of these divisions – its resolution is of deeper importance than just a bilateral [...]
Introduction I am delighted to be here with you today. And I want to thank you, the representatives of British business, for the extraordinary work you do, especially in the difficult times we face. In the last two years since I spoke to the CBI conference I have been impressed by the work you do, creating wealth, [...]
British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband has been accused of being wonky and clunky at speeches but easy and more conversational in interactions. If TV vox pop interviews are anything to go by, half the UK’s population don’t even know who he is. So this week he changed his approach to the annual party leader’s [...]
8 years ago today in Washington DC, I endured – no other way to describe it – one of the toughest days in my working life. And it had all started so well. Still a civil servant at that stage, I watched the 2004 Labour party conference in Brighton from my office in the Treasury. [...]
Redistribution under Britain’s New Labour government was aimed at minimum opportunities for the poor, rather than equal outcomes. But when inequality widened under Prime Ministers Blair and Brown it was as much to do with the kind of capitalism they promoted as timidity in their policies for redistribution [1]. Current Labour leader Ed Miliband said last [...]
Our friends at Policy Network organised a very stimulating conference yesterday entitled: ‘The Quest for Growth’. The conference amongst other things featured a question and answer session with the leader of the UK Labour party Ed Miliband and the UK Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls as well as a very interesting panel on Labour markets, skills [...]
Watching Paul Krugman speak at the LSE this week, I was amazed at how simple and direct his message was. In essence, the argument is that we know from Keynes how to get out of recession; what the UK economy needs is a stimulus of the order of £250-400bn (ie, 2-3% of GDP). The costs [...]
Britain’s role in the EU under the current Cameron Government is that of a petulant child which is throwing its toys out of the pram, rather than being a constructive partner in managing the challenges we all face. A potential future for Britain in Europe seems more at risk than for a long time – [...]
Europe’ has been a neuralgic issue in UK politics for four decades, ever since the then Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, took the state into the then Common Market, alongside the Republic of Ireland and Denmark. While one positive outcome of that coincident accession has been the rapprochement between Britain and Ireland, transcending a century [...]
Neville Chamberlain is remembered today as the British prime minister who, as an avatar of appeasement of Nazi Germany in the late 1930’s, helped to usher Europe into World War II. But, earlier in that fateful decade, relatively soon after the start of the Great Depression, the British economy was rapidly returning to its previous [...]
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