Emeritus Professor of Politics & Public Policy, London School of Economics & Political Science.
Interests - digital era governance, democratic audit & renewal, theories of the state, elections & party competition.
And in open social science, universities.
Out now & free to download by chapters or whole text, my @LSEPress book with Tim Monteath, Denisa Kostovicova and Hannah Boroudjou
*Doing Open Social Science*
press.lse.ac.uk/books/e/10.3...
helps qualitative & quantitative researchers make their work more reproducible & robust
Former Tory candidate suspended over contract killer claims was adviser in Kemi Badenoch’s office | Conservatives | The Guardian share.google/t69rSyoD0LdK...
So in 2019 IFG and the Blavatnik School in Oxford published a “study” concluding
“UK comes top of the 2019 International Civil Service Effectiveness Index”. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/comm.... But you were being secretly critical all along!
So you're moving goal posts now? First we didn't point out the problems, now you admit we did, only "too late" supposedly?
But fine, here's a quote from the first ever Performance Tracker in 2017, pointing it out *at the time*
Again, this obsession is weird! You surely have better things to do
“1,431 people, including at least 300 children and 130 women, have been killed since the US-brokered ceasefire deal began in October 2025 and Israel is aiming to "destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza". news.sky.com/story/un-rep...
'The Prime Minister is not prejudging anything'
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds speaks to #BBCBreakfast about Andy Burnham's call for 'an honest conversation' on whether to rejoin the EU's freedom of movement
#Tories When you're stashing away a six figure income (or more), maybe it doesn't matter but to the rest of us they make a difference! You fuckers got us into this mess. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
New blog alert!
@huwtlmac.bsky.social has written a blog summarising the findings from his new book on the wealth, power and elitism of the House of Lords, 'The Assetocracy'.
The blog can be found here, with a link to order Huw's book: wp.me/pcjoA9-24e
The Lords Is full of spivs.
“Since the arrival of the Conservative government in 2010, first in coalition and then ruling alone, the upper house has been filled with extraordinarily wealthy peers. A new economic elite has replaced the old aristocracy.”
psaparliaments.org/2026/10/27/l...
“1,431 people, including at least 300 children and 130 women, have been killed since the US-brokered ceasefire deal began in October 2025 and Israel is aiming to "destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in Gaza". news.sky.com/story/un-rep...
Lord Sadiq Khan said there has been “a surge in retailers” wanting to open on Oxford Street ahead of today’s pedestrianisation. www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-...
Between these two victories, Burnham making positive noises about getting closer to the EU and the upcoming US midterms, does anyone else feel like the West is slowly but surely beginning to emerge from a decade-long populist nightmare?
Lula:
"We had to overcome foreign interference through digital platforms, which we will have to regulate. A crime in the digital world must be treated the same as a crime in the real world.
We cannot have monstrous companies earning millions... not paying taxes... wanting to steer elections."
“the lack of belief in our ability to win in the Red Wall”…
In Leigh the Tories won in 2019 after a century of no Tory MP. It went back to Labour (Jo Platt) in 2024. Recently it was predicted to go to Reform next time… With the right split, it may stay Labour.
The Student List election victory is a tremendous step forward for Serbia. Let's hope Serbia's new generation of liberal democrats will learn from the mistakes that derailed the country's democratisation following the overthrow of Milosevic in 2000:
Sadiq Khan, when asked about Burnham reopening FoM discussion, refers unprompted to the Boriswave of low wage and permanent migrants. Not heard senior Labour figures use the term before.
This seems like a *much* bigger story than it's turning out to be.
Man with links to the US far-right and loyalists who worked in Badenoch's office was coordinating political assassinations.
How is this not literally the primary political headline in the UK?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
The Sunday Times still doesn’t get it . It’s underlying theme that cutting public spending leads to growth is now so outmoded and plain wrong but it still pushes it, to the extent that it has contributing articles saying the same from Sunak and Badenoch with no apology from either for the last govt.
I’ve co-signed @labourlewis.bsky.social’s letter to Andy Burnham calling for public ownership of water.
We already have ‘public control’. It's failed. £85bn+ extracted by shareholders, sewage in our rivers, bills going up.
We need public ownership. Add your name: actionnetwork.org/petitions/la...
Andy Burnham leaves open UK rejoining EU from 2030 as he slams Brexit for loss of border controls. ‘We got a harder Brexit than was proposed in the referendum campaign. It's weakened our economy, weakened our control of immigration,’ says the PM. www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...
Forty five thousand pounds in expenses claims for JUST FIVE MONTHS!
The average UK salary is under thirty two thousand pounds PER ANNUM according to Forbes, NOT the thirty nine thousand that the UK government would like us to believe (see below)
Maybe all politicians really care about is money? 🤔
Reform UK's Suella Braverman claims massive taxpayer-funded water bill at home equal to 18 baths a day
Claim to have used 1,504 litres of water daily at her £1.2million four-bedroom pad in a five-month period.
Reform have promised benefit cuts for the disabled, old, sick, poor, unfortunate.
Positives - Labour with a clear lead.
Negatives - the far right still on 47%. Wtf?
[Don't come at me trying to defend the Tories. Their current policies on immigration and human rights (for example) would have been beyond even Farage's dreams a decade ago...]
What is Kemi Badenoch’s new big idea? Exactly the same as the Conservatives’ old big idea: unfunded tax cuts. It’s the lack of imagination as much as the fiscal incontinence that stands out torstenbell.substack.com/p/kemis-big-...
I know it’s easy to mock and it can be a bit forced sometimes, but I personally don’t think it’s a bad thing if our prime minister is more personable and does things to connect with the public across multiple different media platforms. God knows Starmer couldn’t have done it.
Notice how you guys immediately resort to personalised insults when criticised? This is a discussion about IFG’s record as a think tank, so why not be civilised and stop labelling your critics like this?
So in 2019 IFG and the Blavatnik School in Oxford published a “study” concluding
“UK comes top of the 2019 International Civil Service Effectiveness Index”.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/comm...
Best civil service in the world then!
But you were being secretly critical all along!
Here is the IFG acting surprised that all the damage done to public services by the new public management doctrines they gave a free pass to have turned out even more disastrously than us critics forecast. But now they seem to join the media whine that it is Labour’s fault. Incredible.
NEW: Starmer's public service inheritance was bleak. His govt made some progress improving services. But also launched a messy set of reforms
Burnham has set out a positive vision but has a mountain to climb to deliver all his promises
🧵
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...
So in 2019 IFG and the Blavatnik School in Oxford published a “study” concluding
“UK comes top of the 2019 International Civil Service Effectiveness Index”. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/comm.... But you were being secretly critical all along!
So you're moving goal posts now? First we didn't point out the problems, now you admit we did, only "too late" supposedly?
But fine, here's a quote from the first ever Performance Tracker in 2017, pointing it out *at the time*
Again, this obsession is weird! You surely have better things to do
Walking up the South Bank of the Thames from Tower Bridge to HMS Belfast on Monday pm, along with thousands of happy visitors, I was thrilled to see a large cormorant fishing, and then a *seal* on his way upstream. How London has changed for the better!
“Palantir cofounder and CEO Alex Karp states ‘AI will undermine the influence of highly educated, often female voters and give it to working class men.
We have feminine energy running our cities and our courts,’ he complained.”
Burnham’s ‘small fixes’ could go a long way
Tackling everyday irritations is not a distraction from the grander questions of statecraft. For Burnham and Labour, it is a necessary first step
Weekend long-read for @politics.co.uk:
www.politics.co.uk/2026/10/burn...
Did you talk about the “decline” - actually near-crisis - in the services I indicated *at the time* these disastrous policies were being implemented? It’s all very well half-noticing some glaring problems now after 14 years,but you heavily glossed or semi-endorsed every NPM policy at the time.
Patrick, I beg you to actually read the posts you quote. Or if reading is too much to ask, just look at the picture. If you had, you'd see we say that nearly all services worsened under the Tories
And this is the opening line of our last report under the Tories. I struggle to see the "free pass"
New - @data.ft.com Sheffield focus group on Burnham’s 100 days.. he’s getting a hearing but still lots of work to do against a backdrop of gloom about the state of the country. Farage enthusiasm waning. Great visuals from the @financialtimes.com team
as.ft.com/r/7d28bf6c-a...
Here is the IFG acting surprised that all the damage done to public services by the new public management doctrines they gave a free pass to have turned out even more disastrously than us critics forecast. But now they seem to join the media whine that it is Labour’s fault. Incredible.
NEW: Starmer's public service inheritance was bleak. His govt made some progress improving services. But also launched a messy set of reforms
Burnham has set out a positive vision but has a mountain to climb to deliver all his promises
🧵
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...
Yeah. Burnham should have followed the lead back then and not sold off oil and gas rights at the time. How careless of him.
PR gesture or not, it's a start.
UK Chancellor announces £2bn Energy Wealth Fund after Jackdaw gas project.
PR gesture.
UK squandered North Sea wealth in tax cuts for corporations and the rich.
Norway didn't, has $2.4 trillion sovereign fund.
UK govts fight class wars, long-term neglected.
Headline: Britain doesn't have enough warships in the Arctic to hold the Russians at bay! Burnham should have accepted demands in 2022 to swell the numbers of boats from 11 to 19!
Yeah. How foolish of him.
Many thanks to over 10,000 folk who have downloaded their free copies of “Doing Open Social Science” from Tim Monteath and me. It’s OA and always will be, here
press.lse.ac.uk/books/m/10.3...
And also on JSTOR.
Walking up the South Bank of the Thames from Tower Bridge to HMS Belfast on Monday pm, along with thousands of happy visitors, I was thrilled to see a large cormorant fishing, and then a *seal* on his way upstream. How London has changed for the better!
As ever, you’d be better served by reading the report (and what we’ve previously written on the Conservative’s public service legacy) rather than calling us names. Unfortunately you only seem interested in doing the latter so there’s no point in me responding further
Many thanks to over 10,000 folk who have downloaded their free copies of “Doing Open Social Science” from Tim Monteath and me. It’s OA and always will be, here
press.lse.ac.uk/books/m/10.3...
And also on JSTOR.