Our story
Labour Together was built by a group of MPs - Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting, Shabana Mahmood, Steve Reed, Bridget Philipson, Lucy Powell, Lisa Nandy and Jon Cruddas - who fought to make Labour electable again.
In 2020, it united the party behind Keir Starmer’s leadership. In the years since, Labour’s new leadership has reformed the party, placed the country’s interests at its heart, and put Labour back on the path to power.
When Labour was last in power, the world was a very different place. The West had won the Cold War. America was the world’s sole superpower. Globalisation was lifting billions out of poverty. Democracy was on the march.
Today, the old certainties are gone. China has created a new centre of gravity. War has returned to Europe. The costs of a globalised economy have sharpened. In too many places, democracy is in retreat.
In this disordered world, Britain is adrift. Low growth has seen wages flat. Outsourced supply chains have left us exposed. The cost of austerity is evident in every public service and on every high street.
Labour Together exists to explore how to win and govern in the age of insecurity. We develop bold ideas to make Britain stronger and more secure, and give Britons back hope and confidence in their future.
Meet our team
We are policy experts, political strategists and pollsters. We have worked in government, the private sector and charities, in political parties and on political campaigns.
Josh Simons, Director
Josh’s first book, Algorithms for the People: Democracy in the Age of AI, was published in 2023. He was previously a Research Fellow at Harvard, a Visiting Research Scientist in AI at Facebook, a Technology Policy Fellow at New America, and a researcher at the Institute for Public Policy Research. He also worked for the Labour Party as a Policy Advisor. Josh is the founder and a Trustee of the Civic Power Fund and a Trustee of Engage Britain.
Josh Williams, Director of Strategy
In 2018, Josh co-founded The Draft, Britain’s leading speechwriting firm, with Tony Blair’s former speechwriter. He has written for and advised politicians in the UK and abroad, as well as chief executives at some of the world’s top companies and charities. He has previously worked in business, consulting and humanitarian aid.
Terrie McCann, Director of Operations and Partnerships
Terrie worked in the charitable sector for over fifteen years, running funding campaigns for a variety of organisations including the Natural History Museum and Sadler's Wells, as well as leading operations and strategy at think tanks and civil society. Her previous role was in the Fundraising team at Labour, first leading the team, then working with senior leaders across the Party to guide and advise on fundraising and strategy.
Matthew Upton, Director of Policy
Matt has worked in the private, public and voluntary sectors, most recently as Executive Director of Policy & Advocacy at Citizens Advice. Previous roles have been in local government and in a political consultancy. He is also a trustee at the Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.
Christabel Cooper, Director of Research
Christabel spent fifteen years working as a data analyst in the private sector, specialising in Big Data. She has also worked with DataPraxis, particularly in analysing the 2019 General Election result, and carried out extensive research and polling with YouGov after the Brexit referendum. She was formerly a Labour councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham.
Virginia Sentance MBE, Director of Industrial Strategy and Clean Energy
Virginia joins Labour Together from over ten years in the UK Government, with roles in HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, and the Foreign Office. She has advised ministers on a range of issues across climate change, the net zero transition, and economic security. Most recently Virginia led the negotiations for The Atlantic Declaration, the US-UK flagship economic partnership, and was instrumental in delivering the UK's COP26 Presidency - the UN's annual climate change summit held in Glasgow in 2021.
Kirsty Innes, Director of Technology
Kirsty spent the first part of her career in the Civil Service, working on a range of economic and foreign policy issues in the Treasury, Foreign Office and Cabinet Office. In 2019 she joined the Tony Blair Institute where her work focused on applying technology to deliver radically better public services. In October Kirsty is joining Labour Together as Director of Technology Policy to help develop an ambitious tech policy agenda for the next Labour Government.
Jon Garvie, Director of Geopolitics
Jon spent the previous two years as International Policy Director at Global Counsel, a strategic advisory business, where he advised a range of multinational clients and investors on the intersection of international politics, technology and trade issues. Before that, he spent 15 years in the UK civil service working across UK, EU and international economic strategy and negotiations, with a particular focus on economic diplomacy. He has advised senior politicians and policymakers in the Northern Ireland Office, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and the Cabinet Office on a broad range of economic, foreign and security policy issues, both in the UK and overseas.
Jess Sargeant, Director of Constitutional Change
Jess joined Labour Together from the Institute for Government, where she led a major review of the UK constitution and produced research and analysis on parliament, devolution and on the constitutional implications of Brexit. She has previously worked in the House of Lords Library and at the Constitution Unit at University College London.
Cam Vargas, Head of Communications
Cam ran YouGov's UK press office for two years. Here he managed all media and broadcast across YouGov's political and current affairs work. Before that, he worked at Savanta where he helped set up their press and polling division, and for the research agency, ComRes.
Ben Szreter, Chief of Staff
Ben previously worked for the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) as the Senior Policy Advisor to the CEO working on behavioural science projects across the world. Whilst at BIT he also spent time on secondment to Nesta working on growth and tax policy. Earlier in his career Ben worked in Parliament as a researcher, as Chief Executive of a community-based charity in Cambridge and on UK trade in Myanmar.
Bel Guillaume, Head of Partnerships and Development
Bel joined Labour Together in January 2024, having previously worked at Onward for two and a half years on development, events and policy research. She holds a Master of Philosophy in Music from the University of Cambridge.
Alex O’Connor, Senior Operations Manager
Alex worked as a political staffer in Jacinda Ardern’s Government for five years, and has helped run New Zealand Labour campaigns at a local and national level. She most recently worked for the New Zealand High Commission in London.
Eleri Kirkpatrick-Lorente, Senior Operations Manager
Eleri joined Labour Together in February 2023, having previously worked for Oliver Coppard, the Mayor of South Yorkshire. Before that, she worked as a Parliamentary Assistant to Paul Blomfield MP and as the lead organiser in several Parliamentary selections.
Oli Kasin, Events Manager
Oli worked as the Events Manager at UK in a Changing Europe, organising various events for academics and people in the public sector. Previously, Oli worked for a large charity, leading its events and marketing strategy. Oli is also a volunteer at Samaritans and organises cabaret events.
Chris Curtis, Senior Research Advisor
Chris is a pollster at Opinium, who leads on their political and social research projects. This involves helping political parties, charities, think tanks, companies, and governments understand where voters stand on the biggest issues of the day. He is also Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Milton Keynes North at the next election.
Fintan Smith, Senior Research & Analytics Associate
Fintan brings three years of experience from YouGov, where he worked in political opinion polling. He has helped a range of clients, including political groups, academics, and journalists, with research design, data collection, and data analysis. He is especially interested in the application of experimental designs to public opinion research.
Suela Martini, Office Manager
Suela joined Labour Together in January of 2024, bringing experience from her work within Parliament. She previously worked in the office of Stephen Kinnock MP, assisting in the running of the office, managing the day-to-day activities and creating content for social media. She also interned as a caseworker in the office of Sarah Jones MP working on local issues.
Laurel Boxall, Tech Advisor
Laurel specialises in public attitudes to technology, with particular regard to artificial intelligence. Following a Master’s at the University of Cambridge, she has joined the tech team to work on AI strategy and digital transformation.
Isabel Fleming, Press Officer
Isabel joined Labour Together from 89Up, where she worked on major campaigns for progressive causes in the UK, EU and US. She holds a Master's from King's College London in Contemporary British History.
Charles White, Press Officer
Charles joined Labour Together from the House of Commons where he was Senior Media Relations Manager. Before that, he spent four years working at the Church of England as Media Officer, and Policy and Parliamentary Adviser for the Lord Spirituals.
Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board draws on all of Britain’s talents - experts from politics, policy, academia and industry helping Labour Together to find the bold ideas that can change Britain for the better.
Sarah Mulley, Advisory Board
Sarah is a policy researcher and consultant with a particular interest in migration policy. Sarah was previously an Executive Director at the Greater London Authority with responsibility for communities and skills. Before that, she led work on migration, communities, employment and family policy at IPPR.
Kate Forrester, Advisory Board
Kate is a former regional and political journalist, starting her career on her local paper in the north west before moving to London to work from the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She is also a former Labour Party press officer and political adviser, and now works for public affairs agency APCO Worldwide.
Graeme is Senior Adviser on work & pensions at the Labour Party. Previously he was Director of Insight & Policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation where he led its work to understand the causes and nature of poverty across the UK and develop bold, creative, and credible policy solutions. Before that, Graeme was Director of Inclusive Growth at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, where he had responsibility for regeneration, housing, planning, economic development, employment, energy, and environment. His other roles include Head of Strategy at the London Borough of Islington, Director of Research at the Institute for Public Policy Research and Expert Adviser to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Graeme Cooke, Advisory Board
Professor Helen Thompson,
Advisory Board
Helen is Professor of Political Economy. She has been at Cambridge since 1994. Her current research concentrates on the political economy of energy and the long history of the democratic, economic, and geopolitical disruptions of the twenty-first century. She is a regular panellist on Talking Politics and a columnist for the New Statesman.
Sarah Hunter, Advisory Board
Sarah has spent her career working in public policy and technology, with a specialism in climate tech. She advises a number of organisations, including as a Non-Executive Director at the UK’s new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Sarah spent 10 years as Director of Global Public Policy at for X (formerly Google X) where she helped engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs invent and launch new technologies to solve big problems. Before joining Google, Sarah was Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Senior Policy Adviser on Culture, Media and Sport in Downing Street. She is a Trustee of the social innovation charity, NESTA and Skateboard GB.
Sir Geoff Mulgan, Advisory Board
Geoff is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Nesta, the UK's innovation foundation between 2011 and the end of 2019. Between 1997 and 2004 Geoff had roles in the UK government including director of the Government's Strategy Unit and the Performance and Innovation Unit, and head of policy in the Prime Minister's office. From 2004 to 2011 he was the first Chief Executive of The Young Foundation. He was the first director of the think-tank Demos; and has been a reporter on BBC TV and radio.
Andrew Cooper, Advisory Board
Andrew was a co-founder of Populus and brings more than two decades of experience advising business and political leaders. He’s worked at the heart of government as Director of Strategy in 10 Downing Street and is a politically unaffiliated member of the House of Lords. His clients include M&S, RBS, BT, British Airways, Amazon and Sainsbury’s.
Professor Anand Menon, Advisory Board
Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London. He also directs the UK in a Changing Europe project. His areas of research interest include the policies and institutions of the European Union, European security, and British politics. He contributes regularly to both print and broadcast media. He is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of the European Union (OUP, 2012), and co-author of Brexit and British Politics (Polity 2018). He is a trustee of Full Fact a member of the Strategic Council of the European Policy Centre, a Council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and an associate fellow of Chatham House.
Rt. Hon Alan Milburn, Advisory Board
Alan was an MP for 18 years and served for five years in Tony Blair’s Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, and subsequently as Secretary of State for Health until 2003 and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 2004-5. At the Department of Health, he led a radical reform programme of health and social care services including the creation of autonomous NHS Foundation Trusts, choice for patients and devolution of decision-making. He served as the Char of the Social Mobility Commission under both David Cameron and Theresa May. His business advises governments and corporations across the world and he serves on a number of global boards, is Chancellor of Lancaster University and Chair of The Social Mobility Foundation.
Professor Rob Ford, Advisory Board
Rob is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester. He works broadly in the areas of public opinion, electoral choice and party politics. His first book (co-authored with Matthew Goodwin) - "Revolt on the Right" - examined the rise of the UK Independence Party. It was named Political Book of the Year in 2015. He has edited two volumes of short essays for a general audience looking at voter behaviour and public opinion - "Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box" and "More Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box". He comments regularly on elections, public opinion and politics for various media outlets, and via his twitter feed.
Sue is a respected thought leader in board effectiveness, strategic leadership and organisational development. Building on a career in public sector consulting, she co-founded her own consultancy (later acquired by GE Healthcare) which supported leadership and governance effectiveness in the NHS. She has held a range of board roles in the NHS, education and the third sector and is currently the Chair of Trustees at Bloody Good Period and the incoming Chair of the Refugee Asylum and Migration Policy (RAMP) Project. She now offers coaching support to the leaders of a range of innovative non-profits. Her early career was spent in policy and institutional development in housing and urban regeneration in South Africa ahead of and following the first democratic elections.
Sue Rubenstein, Advisory Board
Paul is an engineer with a 35 year track record in founding and building companies based upon innovative science & technology. He served as a government minister from 2005 to 2010, first as Minister for Defence Procurement and subsequently as Minister for Science and Innovation attending Gordon Brown’s Cabinet. At the MoD he led the development of the Defence Industrial & Technology Strategies and reform of defence procurement. As Minister for Science and Innovation, Paul led a programme to support science and innovation through the financial crisis, including establishing the Office for Life Sciences and the UK Space Agency. He holds three FIA World Land Speed Records for electric vehicles and has competed in the Le Mans 24 hours.
Rt Hon Lord Drayson, Advisory Board
James Crabtree, Advisory Board
James Crabtree is a geopolitical analyst and author, with extensive experience living and working in Asia. He is a distinguished visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. James spent ten years as a journalist and foreign correspondent, notably for the Financial Times, where he was both Mumbai Bureau Chief and Comment Editor. He is currently a columnist for Foreign Policy, and writes for publications ranging from the FT and Straits Times to The New York Times, the Guardian and Wired. He previously worked as a senior advisor in the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, under Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
Policy fellows
Our Fellows bring their expertise and energy to develop bold new ideas for a Labour government.
Ruairidh Macintosh, Policy Fellow
Ruairidh focuses on the policy and politics of Net Zero. Outside of Labour Together, he works with FTSE100 companies on what it will take to accelerate the transition. He was previously a special advisor to the UN Climate Change High Level Champions. He has particular experience on public opinion and political strategy, both on climate change and more widely. Ruairidh is also a Senior Advisor to the Labour Climate and Environment Forum.
Will Brett, Policy Fellow
Will Brett is a consultant with 15 years' experience in political campaigns, communications and policy research. He provides strategic advice to senior organisational leaders and politicians, with a focus on grassroots-led campaigning and political influencing. He is currently director of We're Right Here, the national campaign for community power, and works across the communities sector to make the argument that local people should have more power to shape the places where they live. Will was previously Director of Communications at the New Economics Foundation and has also worked for a number of senior Labour politicians including Ed Miliband, Tessa Jowell and Stella Creasy.
Hamish Falconer, Policy Fellow
Hamish Falconer served in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for over a decade. His work focused on humanitarian relief, national security, and hostage recovery. He worked extensively on Afghanistan, as well as serving in South Sudan and Pakistan. On leave from foreign service he was a 'World Fellow' and a Visiting Scholar at Yale University. His research is focused on industrial strategy and national security. He is Labour's candidate to be the next MP for Lincoln.
Ellie Cumbo, Policy Fellow
Ellie Cumbo has nearly twenty years' experience in public policy research and campaigns, with a focus on women's rights, law and justice. She has worked for both major national charities and small, grassroots organisations, and has most recently led teams at the Law Society of England and Wales, and previously the Bar Council. She has been active in the Labour Party for 13 years, and was elected as a councillor in Southwark in 2022.
Dr Matt Killeya, Policy Fellow
Dr Matthew Killeya is an entrepreneur, former business owner, non-executive director, campaigner and activist. He helped build and lead a global investment firm as Partner, Head of Research and Chief Investment Officer, where he co-founded the Cantab Institute in the Mathematics of Information at Cambridge University. He has a PhD in Bayesian Statistics and is an expert in Bayesian analysis, artificial intelligence and Green investment.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, Policy Fellow
Miatta Fahnbulleh is the Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation. Prior to joining NEF she was Director of Policy & Research at the Institute of Public Policy Research. Before this, she has worked at senior levels for the Leader of the Opposition, the Cabinet Office, and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. Her work has included the development of policies from devolution to local economic growth, housing, energy and climate change and transport, driving forward the Government’s economic devolution agenda in England, and localism and local economic growth.
Morgan Wild, Policy Fellow
Morgan is Head of Policy at Citizens Advice where he's mostly preoccupied with living standards. He's interested in why policy keeps failing, why we keep noticing and why we don't fix it. He's spent his career exploiting this fact to help get a few billion back in people's pockets, but wants to know why it keeps happening. He's worked a bit on a lot of things, including energy policy, inflation measurement, regulation and social security.
Emily Middleton, Policy Fellow
Emily is a digital government specialist with a strong commitment to inclusion. She is a Partner at Public Digital, where she leads the international practice. She has advised more than 20 governments, UN agencies, philanthropies and development banks on digital public services reform. She has co-authored papers on digital public finance, inclusive digital transformation, and the use of open source software in government. Previously, Emily led the design of the London Office of Technology & Innovation. She has also worked at UNICEF Innovation and the Boston Consulting Group. She serves as a trustee of girls’ rights charity Plan International UK.
Matthew Lawrence, Policy Fellow
Mathew is the founder and Director of the think tank Common Wealth. Previously he was a Senior Research Fellow at IPPR working on their Commission on Economic Justice. He is the co-author of Owning the Future (2022) and Planet on Fire (2021).
Chris Fleming, Policy Fellow
Chris is a specialist in the digital transformation of public services, with a particular focus on the NHS. Chris is a partner at Public Digital where he leads their healthcare practice, providing advice and support to leaders who want to bring their services and organisations into the digital era. He has worked with over 100 provider trust boards on leading digital change, and previously worked at NHS Digital where he led product and delivery for a number of national platforms for the NHS including the NHS App, 111 online and the NHS’s vaccine trials registry.
Andy Tarrant, Policy Fellow
Andy works on pensions policy for Labour Together, exploring how the current system needs to be developed and reformed for the long term, to support savers, pensioners and the wider UK economy. He was previously an adviser on pensions to Gregg McClymont, Shadow Pensions Minister (2011-2015), and subsequently Head of Policy and then Head of Strategic Communications at B&CE (now People’s Partnership). By background Andy is a competition and regulatory lawyer, working in turn for the UK telecommunications regulator, BT PLC, and as director for a pan-European telecommunications trade association.
Funding
Labour Together is regulated by the Electoral Commission. Political donations to Labour Together are listed on the Electoral Commission website, which can be found here.
Our board
Sir Trevor Chinn (Chair), Jonathan Kestenbaum, Sally Morgan, Will Somerville, and Mike Craven.