Glen O’Hara: How the Blair governments reshaped the country
5 May 2026, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Location: University of Bath campus (Room 3.5, The Chancellors' Building), Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY
Think tank: Institute for Policy Research
This event hosted by UK think tank the Institute for Policy Research discusses what we can learn from New Labour’s time in power.
Between 1997 and 2007, New Labour sought to reshape Britain into a more cohesive and forward-thinking society. The decade saw the rise of socially liberal attitudes and flourishing public services under a government committed to rebuilding and investing in them. Yet New Labour’s track record was far from flawless and its legacy remains complicated and contested. Glen O’Hara, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Oxford Brookes University, examines both the intentions behind New Labour’s policies and their real-world effects, and traces the lasting impact of the Blair years.
Speaker biography: Glen O’Hara is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Oxford Brookes University. A former journalist, he is the author of a series of books and articles about modern Britain, including The Paradoxes of Progress (2012) and The Politics of Water in Post-War Britain (2017). His most recent book is New Labour, New Britain? How the Blair governments reshaped the country. He is a regular commentator on British politics and public policy in the press, including the Guardian, the Financial Times, the Telegraph, Times Higher Education and the New European.
