James Baggaley

Shared institutions remain one of Britain’s greatest guards against the anti-democratic populism of American politics. My latest for @NewStatesman featuring our latest report from @UCLPolicyLab and @Moreincommon_. newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

Blair’s essay is a substantial intervention on what's wrong with Britain & with Labour, with a detailed alternative agenda. Dismissing it is silly. But engaging with it reveals that it's both forward-looking & stuck in the past, with an agenda that is radical but not 'centrist'🧵

Really interesting piece. I love the new questions that Andy Burnham is pushing into the discussion. 1/2

Not the result we wanted. But thanks to everyone who came up to speak to me today. Appreciate all the advice and agree with the main consensus: “Get new running shorts.” The one bit that sticks most in my mind? “You need to be clearer that Labour left us. We didn’t leave Labour.” I agree. From here on, I will say it more clearly: mine is a campaign to change Labour back to the party people used to know. A party solidly on the side of working class people. Make no mistake about that. Despite what happened on the pitch, Everton FC once again excelled off it. It gave me hope that, despite everything, we can re-build more unity in our country. 🙌🏻 #bradleylowery @Bradleysfight

🧵Our work with @UCLPolicyLab has looked at the crisis of respect in politics, people don’t feel our political class respects them or their communities. A previous focus group in Makerfield found the sense of disrespect was acute & a feeling the PM embodied that lack of respect

Wrote for the @spectator about Burnham and Greater Manchester. A few reflections 1) having run so many groups there the Burnham thing isn't just hype, he has broad appeal 2) Our groups and other polling evidence convinces me he'd have won in G&D and most by-election prospects. 3) Greater Manchester Mayoral race - a lot depends on splits, but suspect turnout dependent Reform most likely around a third if Labour infrastructure holds out I think they'd be favourites, but Greens could get progressive mantle spectator.com/article/could-…

This in @joshsimonsmp piece captures in one anecdote hundreds of people we’ve spoken to in recent months who make up Reform’s second 10-15%. They have worries about Reform (SEND actually has become one of the most mentioned ones) but feel they have to vote against the status quo

Our latest report ‘Respect Crisis’ with @Moreincommon_ shows the gap between politics and ordinary people. Bridging that divide is about values and authenticy. Doubling down on process or technocracy is only deeping the anger of voters. ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/new…

"A report is making its way around Labour types today on the “respect crisis” of voters wanting more than anything for politicians to respect ordinary people, with three-quarters saying they don’t feel the govt does" Anoosh Chakelian on our latest report newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

Disrespected Britain punishing Starmer in local and devolved elections. New analysis from UCL Policy Lab and @Moreincommon_ shows that a failure to respect ordinary people has led voters to desert the established parties. ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/new…

Don’t think you understate how important it is to have candidates as good as @RowennaDavis. Just feels like a big part of how we rebuild faith in politics

What Labour types are talking about today, in between bouts of existential angst - a so-called “respect crisis” among the public.

In a very British way what you are seeing is a cross-country, cross-ideology rebellion against a status quo that too many people think doesn’t work for them. The biggest casualty? The traditional two party system, and it’s hard to see it being possible to put it back together.

This one is for the niche audience that wants more charts in politicians’ speeches… offered some reflections on the economic lessons of the shock that we sadly find ourselves in for @ucl inaugural Annual Lecture in Economic Policy ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/new…

"Media reports of late have suggested that Britain’s Jewish community feels under attack. This is incorrect. We are under attack, both figuratively and literally. Petrol bombs are being hurled at our cultural and religious buildings; people are trying to stab us. Are they acting alone, radicalised by online hate or tormented by untreated mental health conditions? Are they part of a concerted, organised terrorist effort? Or are they hired hands, providing violence-on-demand for extremist groups who head to the dark web to commission such attacks? I’ll leave that up to the police and the security services; to the community targeted, it hardly matters. Attacks on Jewish people and Jewish spaces, simply because they are Jewish. Isn’t there a word for that?" @RMCunliffe gets to the heart of the matter. newstatesman.com/politics/socie…

In today’s @thetimes @lara_spirit looks at our new polling on leadership attributes. 🌹The PM is underwater on almost all metrics. But positive on honesty. 🌳Badenoch does better than the PM on most and bests Farage on “honesty”, “respecting the public”, “cares about the country” and “saying what she really thinks”. ➡️Farage comes out on top on key attributes of “leader” and “strong” and “wants to change things quickly” 🆕But it’s Andy Burnham who comes out on top of those 3 across most of the leadership attributes tested across the board.

As the transatlantic alliance falters, there’s a new kind of military Keynesianism emerging from Labour’s “Anglo-Gaullist” circles. Rearmament will, they say, deliver us from our broken, post-2008 growth model & produce a manufacturing renaissance/industrial revival. It’s a delusion. There are few worse ways to catalyse growth than defence spending. Its multipliers are weak + long-term productivity benefits are non-existent. Better to build true resilience, & channel £££ into infrastructure, capital projects, R&D & fixed public assets, not another MoD procurement money pit. Before we restore our ability to “project influence” abroad, perhaps we should think about how to raise living standards/real wages for the first time in 2 decades at home?🤔 Time to drop the post-imperial delusions, Bevinite nostalgia & the “Gaullist” posture & start thinking like a developing country. ANGLO-DENGISM over Anglo-Gaullism, Comrades!: look inwards, build, develop, grow, Make Britain Rich Again. FULL ARTICLE👉👉👉 unherd.com/2026/04/what-t…

It was a great honour to host Diego Martínez Belío, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs. We were joined by those from across politics, philanthropy, journalism and campaigning to hear the distinctive Spanish approach to our current global disorder.

Peter Mandelson is obviously a very charming man. Funny, well connected, gossipy, you hear a lot of people talk about him with affection in Westminster. My own stand out memory of him is a little different. The first time I met him was at my first ever Labour Party conference, I was a trainee reporter in my early twenties.  In other words, I had no status or any connections really at all. And I guess the best way to put it, is that Peter Mandelson was dismissive rather than charming. The reason I'm saying this is because I think it goes to the heart of Westminster's problem, a problem that I believe is deeply connected to the Epstein scandal (in Epstein’s world status - connections - and money - was everything.) Because people who look at Westminster - in the same way as they might look at Washington - and think, this is a closed group of elites, who all know each other, who go to the same parties, and share the same in jokes... well, to a large extent, they are right. There are too many people in Westminster who look over the shoulder of the person they're talking to see if there's someone more important in the room. Status is everything... what stories can they give me... how can they further my career? The personal and the professional become blurred.  And Peter Mandelson is the embodiment of that. Charming, well connected, gossipy. In the inner circle.  If we're honest with ourselves, that's the reason he's been allowed to fail and then be rehabilitated so many times. It's the reason he was given the best job in politics - US Ambassador - despite being friends with a paedophile. And it's the reason he's had a softer landing than many others would have in his position.  A softer landing... until now. Because after the latest dump of Epstein emails, there really is no coming back. Not even for the most charming man in Westminster.

"Class shouldn't be treated as an awkward afterthought." Playwright James Graham and Chancellor of Manchester University Nazir Afzal discuss whether making social class a legally protected characteristic might help more people from working-class backgrounds get jobs in the arts?