(Almost) 100 days of a new Government: A fresh start in the UK?

30. September 2024 18:00

Jake Benford (Bertelsmann Stiftung), Dr Jochen Bittner (Die ZEIT) & Constance Kampfner, The Times

On July 4th 2024, the British voted in favour of a Labour government for the first time in almost 15 years. Since then, despite the summer break, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already visited Chancellor Scholz in Germany, where they announced work on a bilateral cooperation treaty with plans to hold government-to-government consultations to sign it by early next year.
Joint priorities underlined by both governments are foreign policy cooperation on peace and security, economic growth, industrial transformation, migration, increased people-to-people contacts, youth and education, energy security, climate and nature policy, development policy, transport and infrastructure as well as technology, research and innovation.

After almost 100 days in office, we want to analyse the policy priorities of PM Starmer’s government both on domestic and foreign policy issues, as well as discuss opportunities for bilateral cooperation and the chances for a new arrangement on (youth) mobility, either at EU or at bilateral level.
Also, we want to look at the role that the German British societies in Germany, the British German Association in UK and other civil society organisations may assume in this new phase of British German cooperation.

Our panelists are Jake Benford, expert on EU-UK relations on Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Europe programme, Dr Jochen Bittner, Die ZEIT’s UK correspondent and Constance Kampfner, Northern Correspondent at The Times.

The event will be chaired by Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Vice Chairman, Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft.

Please join the event by using this link: (No prior registration required!) https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81547601329?pwd=rA7KKFEzYs9mcsbrOrAPUaRcVaQGjn.1

Jake Benford focusses on EU external relations and EU foreign policy, as well as on the politics of the United Kingdom on Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Europe Programme. A political scientist by training, Jake joined the foundation in 2010. He previously lived and worked in the UK where he gained professional experience with the Economist Intelligence Unit, Chatham House and the UK Civil Service. He holds degrees in European Social and Political Studies as well as in International Relations from University College London (UCL), Sciences Po Paris and the University of Cambridge.

Dr Jochen Bittner is Die Zeit’s UK and Anglosphere correspondent in London. He has been a political editor with the Germany newsweekly since 2001. Jochen studied law and philosophy and holds a PhD in legal philosophy from the University of Kiel. Before joining the Die Zeit, he worked as freelancer for various publications, among them the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Welt. From 2007 to 2011 he was Die Zeit’s European and Nato Correspondent in Brussels. In 2017 he set up Die Zeit’s new debate section “Streit”, which he co-headed until 2023. His book publications include „So nicht, Europa!” (Not this way, Europe!/2011) deals with the shortcomings of the European Union and “Zur Sache, Deutschland – Was die zerstrittene Republik wieder eint” (2019). From 2013 to 2020 he was also a regular Opinion Writer for the International New York Times.

Constance Kampfner is the northern correspondent for The Times based in Manchester. She reports on crime, politics, social justice, culture and more. She can sometimes be found on the other side of the Channel investigating everything from DIY men’s contraception to the rise of the religious right. She was previously named young journalist of the year at the Scottish Press Awards for her work reporting for The Times Scotland.