How Westminster Works ... and Why it (Still) Doesn't.
When: Thursday, June 25, 2026, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Where: TBA, Mile End
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Join the Mile End Institute for this public lecture, marking the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum, with the journalist Ian Dunt!
In 2023, Ian Dunt published an instant bestseller: How Westminster Works … and Why it Doesn’t. An excoriating analysis of dysfunctional institutions, incompetent ministers and disastrous policy-making, it anatomised the governing system from Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament to TV newsrooms, pressure-groups and the civil service. Reviewers praised “A blistering account of the irrationality and sheer absurdity of Britain's dysfunctional political system” (Caroline Lucas); “an articulate wail of lament and a rousing call to arms” (Armando Iannucci); and “a brilliant, surgical book” (Isabel Hardman).
Three years later, Ian asks what has changed – and what is still going wrong. With Labour in government, a fragmenting electorate, the rise of the Greens and Reform UK, 10 years of the Brexit vote, and scandals over Peter Mandelson and the firing of senior civil servants, how is Westminster working today – and how can we build something better for the future?
Ian Dunt is a columnist with the i paper, author of the ‘Striking 13’ newsletter, co-host of the Origin Story podcast and the author of Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? (2016) and How to be a Liberal (2020).
This event will be held at Queen Mary's Mile End campus. The exact venue will be announced a week before the event.