OppositionCast

Professor Philip Norton is this week's guest as he discusses different types of political opposition, how the Official Opposition operates in the UK Parliamentary system, and his new book, "Governing Britain: Parliament, Ministers and Our Ambiguous Constitution." Presented by Dr Nigel Fletcher.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, Labour's former Leader in the House of Lords, talks to Dr Nigel Fletcher about her political career - from working for Neil Kinnock in the 1980s to her five years as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords under Ed Miliband. As Chairman of the Centre for Opposition Studies, she also gives her view on why our work to promote greater study of the subject is so important.

How did Labour perform in opposition to the 2010-2015 Coalition government? Dr Nigel Fletcher is joined by Professor Tim Bale of Queen Mary, University of London to talk about the leadership of Ed Miliband - from attacks on the "omnishambles" budget to the rise of Jeremy Corbyn...

Stuart Smedley of the Centre for British Politics and Government at King's College London talks about his research on UK public opinion to EU integration in the years from 1973 to 2016. How did growing opposition to further integration develop into support for Brexit?

Dr Catherine Haddon of the Institute for Government talks to Dr Nigel Fletcher about how the Civil Service and opposition parties prepare for a possible change of government - including how the process of official contacts has evolved, and how it could work better.

Emily Stacey and Sir Adam Ridley talk to Dr Nigel Fletcher about Margaret Thatcher's time in opposition, focusing on her travel abroad to visit world leaders, and the policy-making process in the run-up to the 1979 election.