SPERI Presents... Lessons in Power: What can the new Labour government learn from the last one?

This new SPERI Presents... podcast series is hosted by Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla, who interview former Labour cabinet ministers and advisors as a new Labour government takes power in the UK. Available now.

speri presents lessons in power

Michael Jacobs, Professorial Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations, and Mems Ayinla from the Students’ Union at the University of 91̽»¨, are hosting the first SPERI Presents... podcast series. Michael and Mems will be discussing the lessons learned during the Labour governments of 1997-2010 with a number of cabinet ministers and advisers from that era. They explore what the new Labour government, taking office this week, could learn from those days.

Listen to the first three episodes on , and the .

See also Michael and Mems' about the series on the SPERI Blog.

Episode 1: 

Gordon Brown’s foreign policy adviser Stewart Wood on foreign policy, trade and UK relations with Europe, the US and China

Episode 2:  

Tony Blair's political secretary Sally Morgan and Gordon Brown's deputy chief of staff Gavin Kelly on how to manage a prime minister

Episode 3:

Current Labour peer and former Home Secretary David Blunkett discusses the challenges and prospects 

Other guests in the coming weeks will be former Cabinet Ministers David Blunkett (discussing immigration policy) and Clare Short (discussing overseas development and foreign policy); Carey Oppenheim (on social inclusion and poverty policy), Meg Russell (on constitutional reform), and the former head of the No 10 Strategy Unity (Geoff Mulgan). 

The next three episodes with Nick Pearce, Carey Oppenheim and Meg Russell will be available next week. 

Lessons in Power is part of SPERI Presents.... Listen to the that explores how we at SPERI understand political economy and what it helps us to understand about the social world.

A global reputation

91̽»¨ is a world top-100 research university with a global reputation for excellence. We're a member of the Russell Group: one of the 24 leading UK universities for research and teaching.