RSA - Talking to a Brick Wall - Why We Need a New Politics

Talking to a Brick Wall - Why We Need a New Politics

6th Jul 2010; 18:00

(full recording including audience Q&A)
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RSA Debate

Deborah Mattinson, Britain's leading political pollster, helped transform Labour into Europe's greatest election-winning machine of the modern era. Now, she argues that we must move to new grown-up partnership politics if democracy is to thrive.

In her new book Talking to a Brick Wall, she reviews the New Labour years from the voter's point of view, tracking the ups and downs of the Blair/Brown era as seen from beyond Westminster, showing how closely political reputation correlates with voter connection.

Telling the story from her unique position on the frontline of electoral politics, she analyses the 2010 campaign and its immediate aftermath. Arguing that the electorate has been left out of political decision-making, she makes a powerful case for rebuilding trust in democracy through citizen engagement.

Speakers: Deborah Mattinson, pollster and author of Talking to a Brick Wall (Bite Back, 2010); Polly Toynbee, columnist, The Guardian and Tessa Jowell MP, Shadow Olympics Minister and Shadow Minister for London.

Chair: Matthew Taylor, chief executive, RSA.

Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #rsapolitics