While many MPs have vacated Westminster for the parliamentary recess, things have been far from quiet on the thinktank front. The revolving door at Demos has seen the departure of a Red Tory and the arrival of an ex-cabinet minister, not to mention a visit from an ex-Bullingdon Club member.
It emerged over the summer that, just over six months into Demos’s high-profile progressive conservatism project, Philip Blond had left. And it was not long before the Red Tory announced on his Facebook page that he was setting up his own thinktank, ResPublica. Interviewed by John Harris in last month’s Guardian (alongside a photograph in sharply-cut suit and Duran Duran hairstyle), Blond revealed he had raised an astonishing £1.5m in just two weeks towards his venture (enough to cover travel and expenses for interns, then).
Blond told Harris that the departure from Demos was down to ‘political and philosophical differences’ and that ‘the values and philosophy I believe in can have a better home elsewhere’. A Daily Mail article he penned a few weeks later reinforced the impression that Blond was not exactly at home among centre-lefties, deriding ‘failed New Labour clones and liberals who believe in nothing but themselves’.
Talking of New Labour liberals, Demos announced over the summer that ex-work and pensions secretary James Purnell would be joining its ranks this month – not a surprising move, given the close links he has been known to have with the thinktank’s top brass (stopping short of enlisting speechwriting help, of course). Purnell is to head up the new Open Left project which the organisation hopes ‘will seek to renew the thinking and ideas of the left through open debate and new policy ideas’.
All of which makes for a rather interesting, and perhaps unprecedented, mix of policy work at Demos, seeking to fan the progressive flame at both ends of the political spectrum. Even with Blond gone, its progressive conservatism project continues apace, now headed up by Jonty Olliff-Cooper. The thinktank’s links with the Tories also appear to be unaffected by Blond’s departure, with shadow chancellor George Osborne making a keynote speech there last month.
It will be interesting to see what the judges at Prospect magazine’s thinktank of the year awards make of the shifting geography of wonk world. This year, the magazine is opening its normally closed nominations to anyone who has the time or inclination to fill in a form, claiming it ‘works to no strict definition of what a thinktank is – if a group thinks it is a thinktank, it is one’. Last year’s winner, the Royal United Services Institute, may find a diverse range of outfits attempting to wrestle the coveted gong from its defence-minded claws.
Those to look out for this year include Reform, whose media presence has been impressively widespread; the Fabian Society, whose blog has proved a lively forum for centre-left debate; and maybe even Progress, who have had a strong year – although, if the Guardian continues to confuse us with Prospect (as happened in the now notorious Peter Mandelson framed cover office wall episode), they may end up giving the gong to themselves.
Winners will be announced in October at a credit crunch-defyingly lavish venue. Watch this space.