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"Do we have the courage to change?": The Ed Miliband interview

Ed Miliband is the shadow energy and climate change secretary and a candidate in the Labour leadership election. He met Mark Ferguson in his campaign office on Monday, 23rd August, 2010. Recently you wrote in your Fabian essay that you were concerned about Labour losing D & E (working class and unskilled) voters. What would your main strategy be for winning those voters back? We’ve got to win back voters from across the income range. The figures I produced in...
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"I am a unity candidate": The Andy Burnham interview

Andy Burnham is the shadow health secretary and a candidate in the Labour leadership election. He met Alex Smith in his office on Tuesday, 13th July, 2010. Let’s start with the Tories’ “radical” pro-market plans for the NHS, which will allow private companies to expand their role and influence in healthcare and which will also mean, we expect, that tens of thousands of management-level jobs will be lost. You said you were so upset by these plans you could weep....
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"We've got to have a distinct offer on community, the economy and democracy": The David Miliband interview

David Miliband is the shadow foreign secretary and a candidate in the Labour leadership election. He met Alex Smith in his office on Thursday, July 8th, 2010. You’re due to give the Keir Hardie lecture in Wales, about learning from Labour's history, from the failures and the weaknesses of the Labour Party as well as its strengths. Tell me more about the intentions of the speech... The purpose of the speech is to try to use our history to understand...
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"This is about bringing communities and ideas together": The Oona King interview

Oona King was MP for Bethnal Green and Bow between 1997 and 2005, and is now standing for the Labour selection to be mayor of London. She met Alex Smith in Victoria on Monday, May 24th, 2010. You're announcing this week that you're standing for the Labour selection to be London mayor. Why the London mayoralty, what inspires you to that position? Two things. First of all, like many Londoners, I see how fantastic London can be and I also...
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"This election will be won by people, not posters": The Douglas Alexander interview

Douglas Alexander is secretary of state for international development, and Labour' general election coordinator. He met Alex Smith on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010, at the Labour Party on Victoria Street. You've been speaking a lot recently about this election being the "word of mouth election", and you're asking Labour supporters to advocate for Labour on the ground, in their workplaces and their communities. In your experience so far as election coordinator, how are people doing this? At the end of the...
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"Get the left back to its tradition of English radicalism": My day with Douglas Carswell

By Olly Deed Douglas Carswell is the Conseravtive MP for Harwich and Clacton and a blogger at Talk Carswell. He met Olly Deed in February, 2010. Criticism is part and parcel of being in government. Some of it is superficial, partisan and not worth the time of day. Some, on the other hand, is tactile, resonant and worthy of discussion. As a party we should be willing to listen and learn from those on the other side. That's why I...
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"New Labour should have been clearer that we cared about inequality": The James Purnell interview

James Purnell is Member of Parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde, and former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He met Alex Smith on Thursday, February 11th, 2010. You're doing a lot of work at the moment on Labour's ideology. We're now effectively in the middle of a long campaign after 13 years in office. Won't most people say – whatever you come up with – that it's all too little, too late for this Government? Well, it's really picking...
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"Our strategy is quintessential, classic New Labour": The Ed Balls interview

Ed Balls is the Secretary of State for Schools, Children and Families and MP for Normanton. He met Alex Smith at the DCSF on Wednesday, 27th January, 2010. The main grapple you’ve had with the Tories recently is on families policy, and on marriage policy in particular. You said David Cameron is cosying up to the Daily Mail with his tax breaks for married couples, and you called Tory policy “total and utter nonsense”… The Tory policy was incoherent, uncosted,...
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“Mutualism is the next stage of New Labour”: The Tessa Jowell interview

Tessa Jowell is the Minister for the Cabinet Office and MP for Dulwich and West Norwood. She met Alex Smith on Wednesday 16th December. On Tuesday you announced a new commission to look into the relationship between ownership and social fairness. Tell me more about that commission. What are its intentions and its remits? It’s a commission that will be funded by Co-operative Financial Services and serviced by Mutuo, so it will be at arms length from government. We see...
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"Seeing my name on a list of cabinet members made me feel a bit of a fraud": The Caroline Flint interview

Caroline Flint is the former Europe minister and MP for Don Valley. She met Alex Smith on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at the Houses of Parliament. You left the cabinet six months ago now. What have you been doing with yourself since June? Well, what’s been great is that I’ve been able to spend more time on things in the constituency. Obviously, with the election coming up over the next few months, it’s allowed me to look at how the...
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"They're not progressive at all, they're completely conservative": The Heydon Prowse interview

UPDATE: Further to the comments below and on Tory Bear, we would like to point out that the reference to the Chair and Vice Chair of Conservative Future in the interview is an error. Heydon meant to refer to the Chair and Deputy Chair of London Conservative Future, as seen in the original "New Young Conservatives" video on Don't Panic here. Many apologies to all concerned for the error. We would also like to clarify that Haydon is happy for...
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“We’ve lost MEPs, but our influence has grown”: The Glenis Willmott interview

Glenis Willmott is the leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party. She is an MEP for the East Midlands, and is a former political officer for the GMB. She met Alex Smith on Monday, 16th November, 2009. You spoke at conference about Labour not yet having won the argument on Europe. After the party’s poor showing at the European elections in June, do you still think Europe is comfortable ground for the party as a domestic issue? I don’t think...
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"People want something new": The Claude Moraes interview

Claude Moraes is a Member of the European Parliament for London. This interview with Alex Smith was conducted by telephone and email in the week of July 27th. In the past six weeks we've had three elections - for the European Parliament, the local councils and now the Norwich North by-election - and in each one Labour has been badly defeated. Being so involved in the party but not in domestic politics, it would be interesting to hear your perspective...
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"I was completely unsurprised by the expenses scandal": The Tony Wright interview

Tony Wright is the Labour MP for Cannock Chase and is currently heading up the Commission on Parliamentary Reform. He met Alex Smith in his office at Portcullis House on Wednesday, 15th July, 2009. You’re heading up the commission for Parliamentary reform. Why do you think you’re the right person to spearhead that? It’s not up to me to think whether I’m the right person. I wrote to the Prime Minister a few weeks ago, suggesting what we might do...
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"Boris was horrified when he won, and so was Cameron": The Ken Livingstone interview

Ken Livingstone is the former Mayor of London. He was previously leader of the Greater London Council, Labour MP for Brent East and a councillor in Lambeth. He met Alex Smith at his home in London on Tuesday, 14th July, 2009. It’s been 14 months since you lost the mayoralty. How do you think Boris Johnson has done up to now? Broadly, Boris’ strategy is that this is a platform that allows him to rise to the premiership. For him,...
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"It's about making traditional campaigning methods even more effective": The Kerry McCarthy interview

Kerry McCarthy is MP for Bristol East and is also Labour's new media campaign spokesperson. She met Mark Hanson on Wednesday, 12th August, 2009. Blogging, Twitter and Facebook are all the rage and there's a suspicion that politicians jump on the bandwagon sometimes...what does the internet mean to you and how is it useful in politics? I think those politicians that are bandwagon-jumping quickly get found out online, which is why it's so powerful, as it rewards authenticity. That doesn't...
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The Martin Bell interview

Martin Bell is the former BBC war correspondent and was the independent MP for Tatton between 1997 and 2001. He met Alex Smith (AS) and Anthony Painter (AP) on Monday, 6th July, 2009 at his home in London. As we begin the interview, we are already talking about expenses and the last 12 years of Labour government... MB: I think it went wrong early on, from which point your party’s original pledge to clean up politics was completely ignored. If...
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The Jessica Asato interview

Jessica Asato is Acting Director of Progress. She met Alex Smith on Sunday, 28th June, 2009. The honorary President of Progress is Alan Milburn, who announced his intention to stand down as an MP over the weekend. How do you feel about his decision? I think Alan has had a very long and illustrious career in Parliament and he’s bought a lot to Labour politics over the years. He’s certainly served Progress very well and has always had a lot...
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"Labour is the more contaminated brand": The Sunder Katwala interview

Sunder Katwala is the General Secretary of the Fabian Society. He met Alex Smith on Saturday, 20th June, 2009. AS: We’re at the Fabian conference 6 months to Copenhagen. What’s the purpose of this conference as you see it? SK: The job of the Fabians is not to replicate what environmental campaigners and others are already doing. But even amongst a highly informed, highly engaged political audience there is no real sense that Copenhagen is a big deal. We need...
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The Neal Lawson interview

Neal Lawson is the Chair of Compass, the centre-left campaign group. He met Alex Smith on Tuesday, 16th June, 2009. One of the criticisms I’ve heard of Compass’ No Turning Back conference is that – although it was a great expression of the collegiate progressive ideal – there was no plan of action set out or even discussed for how to achieve it. Compass is on a journey. We started as a constructive critique of Blairism and still have one...
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