A new centre-left think tank has sprung from the ground. The ‘Centre for British Progress’ is absorbing the ‘UK Day One’ think tank which presented policy ideas to Labour before the election. Former Labour PPC and onetime Lammy staffer David Lawrence is running the group alongside Day One founder Julia Garayo Willemyns. Labour MPs Chris Curtis and Yuan Yang are also in support. YIMBY wonk John Myers is chairing the board…
The think tank has connections to Starmerite Labour Together. It launches with an essay attacking blockers in society: “British institutions have become quietly addicted to caution. This is not a partisan impulse, but a deeper reflex embedded in our public life, our boardrooms, our research institutions, and even our collective imagination.” It is to focus its research on infrastructure, energy, and technology…
Those aware of the policies that stimulate growth will raise an eyebrow at the think tank’s paean to Beveridge’s “war not on fascism or a foreign power, but on the “Five Giant Evils” of poverty, disease, ignorance, squalor and unemployment.” It also attacks people who believe in “dismantling programmes, indiscriminately deregulating, or tearing down institutional guardrails.” Light on their own proposals so far…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”