Andrew Adonis has changed his mind about the virtue of coalitions.  In this exclusive extract from his new book he explains why Few short periods in politics have mattered more in Britain than the ‘five days in May’ which followed the 2010 general election. Secret meetings day and night; helicopters whirring overhead; television cameras swarming …

Doug Richard’s review of apprenticeships is about to be published.  For months I have been pressing the case for a Whitehall apprenticeship scheme and the Richard review offers the opportunity to take this forward.  The government should now immediately launch a civil service apprenticeship scheme to run alongside Whitehall’s existing graduate fast scheme. Whitehall currently …

I don’t think there is much dispute that Britain’s industrial base is too weak and too narrow. If that weren’t the case we probably wouldn’t be in a double-dip recession. And we certainly wouldn’t be in a crisis with 2.6m unemployed, youth unemployment of more than one million, and national income still significantly lower than …

The quest to transform education is not yet over, says Andrew Adonis My new book Education, Education, Education describes Labour’s achievements – academies, Teach First, sure start, the literacy and numeracy strategies, the City Challenge programmes, Building Schools for the Future, more and better teachers, the doubling of education spending. All this transformed standards, eradicated …

The Right Hon Lord Adonis The Right Hon David Cameron MP Prime Minister 10 Downing Street, SW1                                                                26 July 2012 APPRENTICESHIPS IN WHITEHALL I wonder if you might consider a suggestion to set up, as a matter of urgency, a pan-Whitehall “government administration” apprenticeship scheme  for 16 and 18 year-old school leavers? I set out …

In the last two months, peers have spent 25 hours debating House of Lords reform. Today they will spend two and half hours debating youth unemployment, and only one backbench Conservative is taking part. That doesn’t say much about the government’s priorities, particularly in tackling what Nick Clegg has called ‘a ticking time-bomb for the …

Similarities with the 1970s abound. Labour must respond with boldness and radicalism Approaching the halfway point of the government, a significant political shift is taking place in Labour’s direction. Partly this is midterm coalition blues. But something more fundamental is happening. The Tories promised their economic plan would deliver growth and jobs. Two years on …

New Labour’s ‘investment and reform’ of schools was turning the tide on social mobility A recent spate of studies provide big lessons for Labour’s future. In particular: don’t trash Labour’s record, but learn from past success and adopt the same radical New Labour mindset in addressing the challenges ahead, especially the challenge of growth. The …

In the future, the public could be given a say in selecting Labour leaders. Ed Miliband is reportedly considering proposals to extend participation in leadership elections beyond party members and the unions, granting voting rights to the wider electorate. Miliband has also previously stated his support for the use of primaries in selecting parliamentary candidates, …

We must not oppose high-speed rail for opposition’s sake. HS2 is Labour’s scheme High Speed Two is Labour’s scheme in origin and conception. Our battle with the Tories should not be on the existing HS2 proposal, but on taking the line right through from London to Manchester and Leeds as a single project rather than …