After a bit of a break last year whilst I was busy writing books, I’m really pleased to be back this month presenting #OppositionCast for the Centre for Opposition Studies, the research centre that I co-founded many years ago.
The podcast was launched back in 2020 in the days of social distancing, as we all adjusted to remote working and the inability to hold in-person meetings and events. Since then it’s built up a good regular audience, and reaches many more people than we would have expected to turn up at an in-person seminar. I’ve enjoyed speaking to a variety of politicians, academics and other interesting people about different aspects of political opposition, and am glad that those conversations remain available to a wider audience. You can go back and listen to past episodes wherever you get your podcasts via this link.
With 2024 shaping up to be a dramatic year for politics in the UK and around the world, we thought it was high time we kicked off a new series. The first episode takes a look at preparations for a potential change of government, in the wake of the news that Sir Keir Starmer has written to the Cabinet Secretary to formally request the beginning of “Access talks” – the process by which the Official Opposition meets senior civil servants to discuss their plans for government.
Our friends over at the Institute for Government have a new report out on preparing for government, and earlier this month I attended their excellent panel discussion on the subject, featuring a number of those who have been involved in Access Talks over the years. The podcast includes some clips from that event, followed by my longer talk with the Institute’s programme director Dr Cath Haddon, who has been studying transitions of government for more years than she would care to remember. It was a great start to the new series, so do have a listen and subscribe for future episodes!
Dr Nigel Fletcher 
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