CONTENTS

politics first | In this Issue
September / October 2016 | www.politicsfirst.org.uk
With bilateral trade between Britain and
China in 2015 having reached $78.5
billion, Liu Xiaoming, Ambassador of the
People’s Republic of China to the Court
of St James’s, writes on pages 12 and
13 of this edition of Politics First on how
Anglo-Chinese relations can be taken to
the next level.
Be sure to read the article!
WELCOME
Dr Marcus Papadopoulos,
Publisher and Editor of Politics First
Welcome to the first issue of the new-look,
relaunched Politics First!
Inside, you will see that the magazine has
been redesigned from beginning to end, making
it more clinical and more luminous for readers,
enhancing the magazine’s reputation as being an
indispensable read for anyone in Whitehall and
Westminster, as well as for anyone interested in
politics in general.
What has not changed, however, is the
editorial, which continues to be brimming
with top-class interviews and articles by
policymakers and other movers and shakers
in British politics. And Politics First remains
committed to its conviction that politics is
serious and should therefore be covered in a
serious manner.
Now, what better edition to unveil the newlook
Politics First for than the autumn party
conference one!
As a result of the decision of the British public
to vote for Brexit this June, UK politics finds itself
in the most unstable and unpredictable state
since the Second World War. The only certainty
at the moment at Westminster is uncertainty.
In the Leaders section, Patrick McLoughlin,
Jeremy Corbyn, Angus Robertson and Tim
Farron lay-out their vision for Britain and
describe how they will achieve this.
Cathy Newman, co-presenter of Channel 4
News, gives us an exclusive interview on the
current state of British politics and how the
four main parties are responding to the fallout
from Brexit.
The Spotlight of this edition is on the Foreign
Office, which is particularly pertinent given
Brexit. The question of whether the Foreign
Office is fit for service is discussed by Emily
Thornberry, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, Tom
Brake, Crispin Blunt and Daniel Kawczynski.
It is a privilege and honour to have His
Excellency Ambassador Liu Xiaoming,
Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China
to the Court of St James’s, writing in a special
section on how relations between Britain
and China can develop further, politically,
economically and culturally.
In the Corridors section, Michael Fallon
contends that the British military remains a force
capable of punching above its weight, while
Angela Rayner discusses how radical Islam
and right-wing extremism can be effectively
countered in UK schools. Dr Paul Monaghan
argues that human rights is an inconvenient
reality for the Conservative Government, and
Alistair Carmichael calls for prison reform in
order to effectively tackle crime in the long-term.
As with every edition of Politics First, there
are many more articles and interviews in this
one, focussing on contemporary and critical
issues of the day.
I hope you enjoy reading this edition, and I
hope you like the new design of the magazine, too.
That just leaves me to wish you a productive
and pleasurable time at the party conferences
in Bournemouth, Liverpool, Birmingham and
Glasgow, and I look forward to seeing you there.
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