With the general election now looming and Keir Starmer’s Labour consistently ahead in the polls, Britain seems to be heading for its first Labour government in 14 years. At the same time, the country faces profound democratic, social, economic and environmental challenges, alongside critical foreign developments including the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

At this event, we will be joined by Tom Baldwin, former director of communications and strategy for the Labour Party and author of ‘Keir Starmer: The Biography’ and co-author of ‘England: Seven Myths That Changed a Country – and How to Set Them Straight’ to discuss who Keir Starmer really is, what type of prime minister he will be, and what this mean for UK public policy. 

Speakers: 

Tom Baldwin is a political writer who worked in Westminster and Washington for The Times before becoming director of communications for the Labour Party. He is the author of several books and is the biographer of Keir Starmer.

Sonia Sodha is chief leader writer and a columnist at the Observer. She also makes documentaries on economic and social issues for Radio 4 and appears regularly on the BBC, ITV, Sky News and Channel 4 as a political commentator. Prior to her career in journalism, Sonia spent ten years working in policy and politics: initially for the think tanks IPPR and Demos, where she led programmes of work on education and social policy; then as a senior policy adviser to Ed Miliband when he was leader of the Labour party; and then in a series of strategic roles for charities including Which?, the Dartington Social Research Unit and Generation Change. She is a trustee of the Trust for London (and chairs one of its two grant-making committees) and the Indigo Trust.

Harry Quilter-Pinner is the director of research and engagement at IPPR. Harry heads up our research, policy and influencing work in Westminster. Prior to this Harry was associate director for work and the welfare state at IPPR. He co-founded and headed up our flagship Better Health and Care programme and was lead author on the independent cross-party Lord Darzi review which shaped the NHS Long-Term Plan and recent NHS funding settlement. He has also led the organisations work on austerity and public spending, and contributed to research on education, welfare and environmental policy. Harry writes regularly for the Guardian, Times, Independent, Telegraph, i paper, and New Statesman, as well as appearing on radio and tv, including Sky News and BBC News. He was previously director of strategy at SCT, a homelessness and addictions charity and has worked at Global Counsel, a consultancy firm, and at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). He has a degree in economics from the University of York.

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