The Conservatives were the first party in the UK to use primary elections to select parliamentary candidates. At the fringe event it was surprising to note the lack of controversy surrounding primaries, particularly compared to the debate in both the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties about whether they should be introduced. Indeed, Andrew Adonis...

This is not so much whether the riots and their aftermath have been the biggest test the Prime Minister has faced since coming to office, which seems to be the view of most commentators, but rather what kind of leadership is required to deal with such events. This has achieved greater prominence following the...

The headline grabber inevitably centres around the Prime Minister’s judgement. There are however other important issues which this has highlighted. These are about the processes for senior ‘political’ appointments which come within the purview of Prime Ministers but which involve people who work at the heart of government. The current system is pretty opaque....

Ed Miliband must have breathed a sigh of relief when the Parliamentary Labour Party endorsed his plans to end elections to the Shadow Cabinet even though he still has to get them through the party conference in the autumn. Having personal control as Leader over the composition of the shadow team would strike most...

“Overpaid public sector workers ripping off the taxpayer with gold plated pensions”. This is the stuff of tabloid headlines but also reflects a perception within government and beyond that the way in which public servants are rewarded cannot continue as before. Hence the two Hutton reviews.

John Reid had a go when he described the Home Office as “not fit for purpose”. Last week the Cabinet Secretary revealed that he had had to write to the Prime Minister asking him to rein in special advisors after personal attacks on a public official. And yesterday the Prime Minister himself was at...

On the FTSE 100 only 15.6% of non-executive directors (NEDs) are women, a figure that has effectively not shifted over the last five years. Davies, whilst stopping short of suggesting quotas for board appointments, does recommend potentially far reaching solutions to alter the balance and get far more women and the talent and experience...

That is the challenge the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) now faces. Its recently elected chair Margaret Hodge, Institute Senior Fellow Lord Bichard and the House Magazine’s Political Editor Sam Macrory addressed this at a lively debate at the Institute on 19 January.

The days of central command and control are over. The future means a devolved approach to government with network structures and greater use of private and civil society collaborative arrangements.

One of the Coalition’s early actions was to put in place radical reforms to Whitehall boards. More non-executive directors are to be appointed, particularly with commercial experience, to galvanise departmental boards, utilising political and business leadership to drive up performance.