Our Speakers

Gideon Skinner is a Research Director and Head of Political Research at Ipsos MORI, where he has worked since 1997. Gideon leads on our research into cross-cutting issues that face all public services, such as public service reform, and research into many political and social trends, including trust. As Head of Political Research, Gideon has [...]

Siobhain McDonagh  is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mitcham and Morden since the 1997 general election. SME4LABOUR Online Talk "Latest Opinion Polls and What They Mean for Labour and Elections in May?"

Carl Shoben is Director of Strategic Communications for polling company Survation. He has uniquely worked as a political strategist for both Jeremy Corbyn and Tony Blair. In between his political and polling roles, Carl has worked at all levels in communications and engagement across the NHS. SME4LABOUR Online Talk "Latest Opinion Polls and What They [...]

Chris is the Senior Research Manager at Opinium, having recently joined the company from YouGov, and has worked on General Election and Referendum polling in the UK for the past six years. He has provided media commentary on topical issues for the BBC, Sky News, and Channel 4 and regularly writes about polling and elections [...]

Sonny is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of SME for Labour. He was formerly Chair of Chinese for Labour, and now Vice-Chair of East & South East Asians for Labour. Sonny is currently the Chief Executive of Civil Service College, responsible for the strategic development of the College, building business relationships with international governmental clients, donor [...]

Ayesha Hazarika MBE is a Scottish broadcaster, journalist and political commentator, and former political adviser to senior Labour Party politicians. Scottish Labour Party's response to the budget's impact on self-employed and small businesses in Scotland Labour Party Conference 2019 – Game Over: regulating gaming and gambling markets of the future 3rd annual Anniversary Gala and [...]

Anas Sarwar is leader of the Scottish Labour Party and MSP for Glasgow. Born in Glasgow in 1983, he studied dentistry at the University of Glasgow and worked as a dentist in the NHS in Paisley for five years prior to becoming a parliamentarian. Anas was first elected as an MP for Glasgow Central in 2010 [...]

Laura Parker is a former Civil Servant in the UK and European Commission and CEO of children’s rights organisations who spent many years living and working outside the UK – including in SE Asia and Eastern Europe – before going to work in the Labour Party as Private Secretary to Jeremy Corbyn. She then worked [...]