Jon Bloomfield & David Edgar | March of the Populist Right
Sun 27 Apr 2025 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm


With populist movements gaining momentum across the globe—Trump back in the White House, Reform UK making strides in the UK, and the Freedom Party in Austria now holding power—there’s never been a more crucial time to delve into the rise of the populist right. Join the authors of The Little Black Book of the Populist Right for a timely discussion that pulls back the curtain on the dangerous ideas, flaws, and fallacies driving national populism, from Viktor Orban to Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen to Nigel Farage.
In clear, accessible language, The Little Black Book of the Populist Right unpacks the history and ideology behind these movements, exposing the myths and fantasies that fuel their rise. With insightful analysis and a compelling call to action, the authors will explore how progressives can effectively push back against this growing tide of nationalism.
Don’t miss this important conversation about the future of politics and how we can stand up for democracy in the face of rising populism.
Venue: Palmerston Room
Duration: 1 hour
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Author Biography
Jon Bloomfield has more than forty years experience as a policy maker and practitioner engaged with cities and regions in the UK and Europe on the three great issues of our era: social inequality; migration and climate change. From 1995 -2005 he was head of Birmingham City Council’s European and International Unit and from 2009-2021 was a senior adviser on the EU’s largest climate change programme, Climate KIC.
Since 2005 he has been an Honorary research fellow in the School of Public Policy at Birmingham University where he pursues a range of policy interests on European governance; the environment; migration; the role of cities; and national populism. His articles weighing into debates on these topics can be found in The Independent, Prospect, Political Quarterly, Social Europe, Byline Times and Open Democracy as well as Compass. During the 1980s Jon was on the board of Marxism Today and covered the 1989 Velvet Revolution for ‘The Guardian.’ His book, ‘Our City: Migrants and the Making of Modern Birmingham’ was published by Unbound in 2019
David Edgar is a playwright, journalist and commentator. His political plays include Destiny (about the rise of the National Front in the 1970s), Maydays (about the role of political defectors in Thatcherism), and four plays about the politics of Eastern Europe after the cold war, including The Shape of the Table (National Theatre), and Pentecost, The Prisoner’s Dilemma and, in 2024, The New Real (all for the RSC).
As a commentator, Edgar has written articles about British fascism, the legacy of the Thatcherism, Eastern Europe and now the rise of the national-populism, for journals including Searchlight, Marxism Today, Soundings, the Independent, the Times, the Guardian and the London Review of Books. He was President of the Writers’ Guild of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain from 2007 to 2013.
Chair Biography