Visiting Parliamentary Fellowship
We are delighted to announce that The Rt Hon John Glen MP and The Right Hon Liam Byrne MP will be the St Antony’s Visiting Parliamentary Fellows for the 2024-25 academic year. The Visiting Parliamentary Fellowship elects two Members of Parliament – one from the governing party and the other from one of the main opposition parties – each year. These Visiting Parliamentary Fellows will visit the College regularly and organise a series of seminars on important political and other matters.
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2025 seminar series theme: Good policy in the age of populism
The 2025 Visiting Parliamentary Fellowship seminar series is jointly hosted by the Department of Politics and International Relations.
In 2024, over half the world held elections with over two billion people eligible to vote. And while the liberal centre left and centre right held ground, populists rose to power everywhere culminating in the re-election of Donald Trump.
So, what are now the implications for the renewal of mainstream politics? How do we renew good policy, internationally and domestically, from security to economic growth to public services to the very way that policy is made in liberal democracies?
In this seminar series, two former Chief Secretaries to HM Treasury, John Glenn and Liam Byrne explore some of the key questions which now confront and challenge mainstream politics, through the lens of specific case studies that highlight the realities of getting policy right in new political weather.
Seminar 6, Monday 28 April 2025, 5.00pm – 6.45pm
Nissan Institute Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College
Public services in the age of populism: how do we fix the NHS and NHS productivity?
Confirmed speaker:
Lord Markham
In the UK election, one domestic policy issue loomed large above everything else: the NHS. But when finances are tough, NHS improvement will prove a challenge unless we can improve NHS productivity. And despite new investment, the new government must avoid the peril of its last term in office when rising personal satisfaction with the NHS failed to translate into an appreciation that the system was on the mend. This seminar will go to the heart of one of the biggest domestic policy reforms, and debate where the role of the state should begin and end and where the limitations of the NHS may lie.
Seminar 7, Monday 12 May 2025, 5.00pm – 6.45pm
Nissan Institute Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College
Growth and regulation in the age of populism: the Financial Conduct Authority’s challenge in getting regulation right.
Confirmed speakers:
Nikhil Rathi (CEO of the FCA)
Miles Celic (CEO City UK)
Many explanations for the rise of populism date its modern incarnation back to the Great Financial Crisis, when arguably a period of deregulation triggered risk taking that brought the global financial system crashing down. But equally it will be hard to foster faster growth unless the UK’s financial services grow faster and more effectively serve their purpose. So how does the regulator in the middle, the Financial Conduct Authority, get the balance right between consumer rights and enabling innovation?
Seminar 8, Monday 19 May 2025, 5.00pm – 6.45pm
Nissan Institute Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College
Quantifying and measuring political risk in an age of populism: how does business view politics and how do boardrooms find reliable ways of understanding political movements/risk
Confirmed speakers:
Charles Roxburgh (former Second Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury, non-executive director of Shell PLC)
Malcolm Gooderham (Founder of Elgin Advisory, former Conservative Party Adviser)