2022 Events

Amid the ongoing ‘partygate’ scandal, both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have been fined by the police for breaching the lockdown rules they imposed on the country. Despite this, Conservative MPs have largely refrained from calling for resignations, in part due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and in part to wait and see if voters will punish the Conservatives at the ballot box. The Prime Minister has insisted that the Government he leads is instead focused on the issues that matter. Yet the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have been deeply criticised for failing to respond comprehensively enough to the cost of living crisis, with the recent Spring Statement panned across much of the media and political spectrum. The Conservatives, historically able to tout their superior economic competence, now trails Labour in some polls on the issue. At the local elections this week, will voters punish the Government, and can Boris Johnson survive as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister?

This episode of Bright Blue TV saw Columnist and Leader Writer, Tim Stanley, former Foreign Editor of The Times and a contributing writer for the New Statesman, Martin Fletcher, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, Catherine Haddon, and Comment and Features Editor for City AM, Sascha O’Sullivan, explore these questions, with Communications Manager, Joseph Silke, as host.

To watch the livestream, simply click here. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to make sure you don’t miss any future Bright Blue TV episodes.

Last month marked the first anniversary of the tragic murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer. Her murder shook women’s faith in the institutions that should protect all of us and raised questions about the police’s ability to identify and deal with violent individuals. The crackdown on Sarah Everard’s vigil, and the more recent Charing Cross Scandal, have subsequently shown that misogynistic attitudes are a wider institutional problem in the police. At the same time, the pandemic saw an increase in reports of domestic abuse, generally by male perpetrators against women, highlighting that violence against women is a wider societal problem. Between March and June 2020, the police recorded a seven percent increase in such offences in comparison with the same period in 2019, and an 18% increase in comparison with that period in 2018. Meanwhile, as pandemic restrictions eased and many re-started their paused social lives, reports of spiking soared. In 2021 there were 1,466 reports of spiking made to police, while the Alcohol Education Trust told the Home Affairs Select Committee that 15% of women had been spiked in their lifetime, in comparison with seven percent of men. The Conservative Government has shown a willingness to engage with these extremely serious issues. In direct response to Sarah Everard’s murder, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced the ‘Tackling violence against women and girls strategy’ last July. The strategy has been accompanied by the introduction of the Safer Streets Fund, the Domestic Abuse Act, and now plans to make cyberflashing a criminal offence. But questions remain over the effectiveness of these initiatives and whether or not the Government needs to do more. How can we ensure the wider social conversation regarding violence against women, that the Government and other institutions are now engaging in, maintains momentum long enough to effect real action that brings real change?

This episode of Bright Blue TV will see former Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Maria Miller MP, Senior News Reporter at The Guardian, Alexandra Topping, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, Farah Nazeer, and former Chief Leader Writer for The Observer and Adviser to Women in Prison, Yvonne Roberts, explore these questions, with Senior Researcher, Phoebe Arslanagić-Wakefield, as host.

To watch the livestream, simply click here at 1:30pm. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to make sure you don’t miss it.

War has returned to Europe. Despite the warnings, Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has shocked the world, causing the greatest security and humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. The invasion has seemingly not gone according to plan for the Russians, as Ukrainian resistance, under the leadership of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has both stalled Russian advances and inspired the whole world with its courage and determination. Yet the frustrated Russian forces are escalating their brutality, including against civilians, and there are concerns that weapons of mass destruction could be deployed against the Ukrainian people. The Western response has been one of unity. It has levied unprecedented sanctions against Russia, and has supplied increasing numbers of defensive weapons to the Ukrainian army, but has refused President Zelenskyy’s request to enforce a no-fly zone, fearful that a direct confrontation between Russian and NATO forces could escalate the conflict into a Third World War, and even trigger an unthinkable nuclear exchange. The British response to the crisis has largely been praised, but there have been criticisms of the speed at which it has sanctioned oligarchs and their assets, and the speed at which it has processed the applications of refugees trying to reach the UK. What more can the UK and its allies do to support Ukraine, and how can Putin be stopped without risking an even more perilous confrontation between Russia and the West?

This episode of Bright Blue TV is hosted by the Communications Manager of Bright Blue, Joseph Silke. In this episode, he will be joined by Member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Adam Holloway MP, former Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, Dominic Grieve QC, historian and Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London, Katja Hoyer, and Co-Founder and Director of Strategy at the Council on Geostrategy, Viktorija Starych-Samuolienė.

To watch the video click here.

Dame Cressida Dick has resigned as Metropolitan Police Commissioner, following a series of high-profile controversies under her leadership. Britain’s most senior police officer conceded that she no longer had the confidence of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as he sought urgent reforms to address widespread public discontent with the Met. This has included anger over the Charing Cross station scandal; the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer and the crackdown on the vigil held in her memory; the failures of the investigation into the serial killer Stephen Port; and other scandals that have brought the Met into disrepute in recent years. These have fuelled allegations of institutional racism, misogyny, and homophobia within the police, and the Met’s handling of the ‘partygate’ scandal has further eroded public confidence. The pandemic has been a difficult period for the police, after a period of sustained budget constraints, and the unprecedented crisis means that understandable mistakes will have been made, but there are nonetheless fears that the vital bond of trust between the police and the public is fraying, and policing in Britain faces a watershed moment. As the police also address important priorities such as knife crime and county lines drug smuggling gangs, as well as crimes online, how can the next Met Commissioner reform the police to repair public confidence, and make communities safer for all members of society?

This episode of Bright Blue TV is hosted by the Communications Manager of Bright Blue, Joseph Silke. In this episode, he will be joined by the the Chair of the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board for Police’s Plan of Action on Inclusion and Race, Abimbola Johnson, the Senior Assistant G1 Editor at The Guardian, Hugh Muir, and the Professor of Policing and Security at the University of South Wales, Colin Rogers.

To watch the livestream, simply click here.

This year, Her Majesty The Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee, the first monarch in the history of the UK and the Commonwealth to do so. After 70 years of guiding the country through wars, recessions, and even a pandemic, The Queen reigns as the undisputed grandmother of the nation. While the Jubilee year is an opportunity to look back at the highs and lows of the past seven decades, the monarchy is also looking to its future. The Queen has expressed her “sincere wish” that when The Prince of Wales accedes to the throne, The Duchess of Cornwall should use the title of Queen Consort, an unthinkable decision in the years immediately following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. However, despite The Queen’s unrivalled personal popularity, the monarchy has been rocked by recent scandals and controversy, including the sex abuse allegations against The Duke of York and the departure of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex from ‘the Firm’. When the younger generations take over, the monarchy will doubtless reform to meet the sensibilities of a new age, but can the ancient institution live long over us, or will the coming decades see an increasing clamour toward its abolition and the birth of a British republic?

This episode of Bright Blue TV is hosted by Communications Manager of Bright Blue, Joseph Silke. In this episode, he will be joined by the Professor of Government and the Constitution in the School of Public Policy at UCL, Robert Hazell, the Chief Executive of Republic, Graham Smith, and Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Studies Journal, Dr. Ellie Woodacre.

You do not need a ticket. To watch the livestream, simply click here at 12:00pm on Thursday. Submit questions before or during the event via Slido here.