25. June 2026 18:00
Annette Dittert, Anne Ruth Herkes
An exclusive members-only event by the Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft
On 18 June, voters in Makerfield go to the polls in what many are calling one of the most consequential by-elections in a generation. Incidentally, it is also the first day of the 76th Königswinter Conference, taking place just around the corner at Manchester Metropolitan University. Just one week later, on 25 June, our panel convenes on Zoom to make sense of the result and its implications for the future of British politics, as well as giving an exclusive insight into their impressions from this years’ Königswinter Conference.
The contest was triggered when Labour MP Josh Simons resigned his seat to make way for Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham — a move that immediately turned a local vote into a national flashpoint. Burnham is widely tipped as a future Labour leader and Prime Minister, having held senior roles under Blair and Brown and served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017.
But Labour is far from guaranteed a comfortable win. Reform UK swept every council ward within the Makerfield constituency in the May 2026 local elections, securing roughly 50% of the vote — a striking signal of how far the political ground has shifted in many parts of the UK. If Labour wins, Starmer is widely expected to face a leadership challenge from within. If Labour loses, it compounds the party’s already difficult run at the polls. Either way, the Prime Minister finds himself between a rock and a hard place
Whatever the result, there will be a lot to talk about.
Join us on 25 June as our panel discusses:
• What the Makerfield result reveals about the health of Keir Starmer’s Labour
• Andy Burnham’s political future — and whether a leadership challenge is now inevitable
• Reform UK’s rise in traditional Labour heartlands and what it means for the next general election
• The deeper realignment of working-class, post-industrial Britain — and who is speaking to it
Please register your participation by June 24 via headoffice@debrige.de or on here on our website. If you are not a DBG member, you can participate submitting a membership application with your registration.
In discussion with fellow board member Dr Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Annette Dittert and Anne Ruth Herkes (who all attended the conference) will share with us their impressions and observations from the conference and their analysis of the UK’s latest political crisis.
Annette Dittert is an author, documentary filmmaker and has been working as a foreign correspondent for ARD for more than 25 years. She lived and worked in Moscow, Warsaw and New York. However, she spent most of her professional career in the United Kingdom. From 2008 to 2014, she was the Bureau Chief and Senior Correspondent at ARD Studio London, a role she returned to in 2019.
She also writes regularly for “Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik” and various British political magazines such as the “New Statesman” and “Prospect”. In addition, she is the author of several books on Poland and the United Kingdom.
In 2004, Annette Dittert was awarded the Hanns-Joachim Friedrichs Prize for her work in Poland. She received the Adolf Grimme Prize for her documentary films, as well as the Marler Group Audience Award and a nomination for the International Emmy Award. In 2019, she was voted Political Journalist of the Year by the German ‘Medium Magazine’ for her Brexit coverage. At the end of 2025, she quit ARD and now works as a freelance publicist, author and reporter from London for different channels and magazines. At the end of 2025, she quit ARD and now works as a freelance publicist, author and reporter from London for different channels and magazines.
Anne Ruth Herkes joined the DBG board in 2024. Following a long career in the public service, most recently as Ambassador and then State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Economics, Herkes has been a Non Executive Director on supervisory boards in in Europe and North America since 2014. She also held advisory roles in the tech startup industry and geopolitical consultancies, most recently with the Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington D.C.. Her board roles span across private banking in Europe, and the private equity industry in North America. She previously was a non executive director on the Supervisory Board of KFW IPEX Bank in Frankfurt.
She is Officier of the Légion d’Honneur, a member of Atlantik-Brücke and serves on the Advisory Board of Asia House London, as well as the transatlantic non-profit organisation 1014 Inc. – Space for Ideas, founded by the Federal Republic of Germany to promote transatlantic dialogue in the arts, society and cultural industry. She was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Alfred Herrhausen Society, the former International Forum of Deutsche Bank.
From 2002 to 2006, Herkes was head of the Economic Department at the German Embassy in London. Prior to that she held roles at the diplomatic missions in Washington and Tokyo, and at the German OSCE mission in Vienna. From 2006 to 2009 she was a member of the management board of bp p.l.c. biofuels business in London, as Vice President Policy & Communication and Senior Strategy Advisor, jointly responsible for the development of the biofuels division. From 2002 onwards for nearly a decade she called London her home. She graduated from Freie Universität Berlin, and holds an ‚Erstes Staatsexamen‘ in Romanistik and Political Science, preceded by an undergraduate education at the London School of Economics and Sciences Po Paris with a scholarship from Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. She completed postgraduate studies at the BSL Lausanne Business School and INSEAD/Fontainebleau.
Register
Note: By registering and participating in this event, you consent to the recording of your appearance and / or your voice, to be published by the German-British Society in photos, videos and accompanying sound recordings via any media and for any purpose.
25. June 2026 18:00
Annette Dittert, Anne Ruth Herkes
Venue
online via Zoom
An exclusive members-only event by the Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft
On 18 June, voters in Makerfield go to the polls in what many are calling one of the most consequential by-elections in a generation. Incidentally, it is also the first day of the 76th Königswinter Conference, taking place just around the corner at Manchester Metropolitan University. Just one week later, on 25 June, our panel convenes on Zoom to make sense of the result and its implications for the future of British politics, as well as giving an exclusive insight into their impressions from this years’ Königswinter Conference.
The contest was triggered when Labour MP Josh Simons resigned his seat to make way for Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham — a move that immediately turned a local vote into a national flashpoint. Burnham is widely tipped as a future Labour leader and Prime Minister, having held senior roles under Blair and Brown and served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017.
But Labour is far from guaranteed a comfortable win. Reform UK swept every council ward within the Makerfield constituency in the May 2026 local elections, securing roughly 50% of the vote — a striking signal of how far the political ground has shifted in many parts of the UK. If Labour wins, Starmer is widely expected to face a leadership challenge from within. If Labour loses, it compounds the party’s already difficult run at the polls. Either way, the Prime Minister finds himself between a rock and a hard place
Whatever the result, there will be a lot to talk about.
Join us on 25 June as our panel discusses:
• What the Makerfield result reveals about the health of Keir Starmer’s Labour
• Andy Burnham’s political future — and whether a leadership challenge is now inevitable
• Reform UK’s rise in traditional Labour heartlands and what it means for the next general election
• The deeper realignment of working-class, post-industrial Britain — and who is speaking to it
Please register your participation by June 24 via headoffice@debrige.de or on here on our website. If you are not a DBG member, you can participate submitting a membership application with your registration.
In discussion with fellow board member Dr Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Annette Dittert and Anne Ruth Herkes (who all attended the conference) will share with us their impressions and observations from the conference and their analysis of the UK’s latest political crisis.
Annette Dittert is an author, documentary filmmaker and has been working as a foreign correspondent for ARD for more than 25 years. She lived and worked in Moscow, Warsaw and New York. However, she spent most of her professional career in the United Kingdom. From 2008 to 2014, she was the Bureau Chief and Senior Correspondent at ARD Studio London, a role she returned to in 2019.
She also writes regularly for “Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik” and various British political magazines such as the “New Statesman” and “Prospect”. In addition, she is the author of several books on Poland and the United Kingdom.
In 2004, Annette Dittert was awarded the Hanns-Joachim Friedrichs Prize for her work in Poland. She received the Adolf Grimme Prize for her documentary films, as well as the Marler Group Audience Award and a nomination for the International Emmy Award. In 2019, she was voted Political Journalist of the Year by the German ‘Medium Magazine’ for her Brexit coverage. At the end of 2025, she quit ARD and now works as a freelance publicist, author and reporter from London for different channels and magazines. At the end of 2025, she quit ARD and now works as a freelance publicist, author and reporter from London for different channels and magazines.
Anne Ruth Herkes joined the DBG board in 2024. Following a long career in the public service, most recently as Ambassador and then State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Economics, Herkes has been a Non Executive Director on supervisory boards in in Europe and North America since 2014. She also held advisory roles in the tech startup industry and geopolitical consultancies, most recently with the Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington D.C.. Her board roles span across private banking in Europe, and the private equity industry in North America. She previously was a non executive director on the Supervisory Board of KFW IPEX Bank in Frankfurt.
She is Officier of the Légion d’Honneur, a member of Atlantik-Brücke and serves on the Advisory Board of Asia House London, as well as the transatlantic non-profit organisation 1014 Inc. – Space for Ideas, founded by the Federal Republic of Germany to promote transatlantic dialogue in the arts, society and cultural industry. She was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Alfred Herrhausen Society, the former International Forum of Deutsche Bank.
From 2002 to 2006, Herkes was head of the Economic Department at the German Embassy in London. Prior to that she held roles at the diplomatic missions in Washington and Tokyo, and at the German OSCE mission in Vienna. From 2006 to 2009 she was a member of the management board of bp p.l.c. biofuels business in London, as Vice President Policy & Communication and Senior Strategy Advisor, jointly responsible for the development of the biofuels division. From 2002 onwards for nearly a decade she called London her home. She graduated from Freie Universität Berlin, and holds an ‚Erstes Staatsexamen‘ in Romanistik and Political Science, preceded by an undergraduate education at the London School of Economics and Sciences Po Paris with a scholarship from Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. She completed postgraduate studies at the BSL Lausanne Business School and INSEAD/Fontainebleau.
Register
Note: By registering and participating in this event, you consent to the recording of your appearance and / or your voice, to be published by the German-British Society in photos, videos and accompanying sound recordings via any media and for any purpose.