Why populists are winning and how to beat them

In 2024, two billion people went to vote – and populism won big. Donald Trump returned to the White House. Marine Le Pen surged in France. Reform UK became Britain’s most successful far-right party in modern history. Across the West, authoritarian populists now govern one-quarter of the world’s democracies. But is this peak populism – or the populists’ tipping point?

In his latest book, Liam Byrne exposes the forces propelling the populist surge – and reveals how to stop it. He traces the millions flowing into Britain’s populist media-political complex. He maps the rhetoric populists use to weaponise fear and nostalgia. And he warns: democracies rarely collapse in normal times – they fall after the next crisis, when hope collapses. Why Populists Are Winning sets out a bold plan to rebuild the radical centre of Western politics. It is a field manual for democratic renewal – written for anyone who refuses to let fear win. This event will draw connections between growing inequality and the populists’ clarion call for a ‘revolt against elites’. Our speakers will unveil the uncomfortable answers behind – and transformative strategies to tackle – the defining crises of our time.

Meet our speakers and chair

Liam Byrne is the Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North. He is a member of His Majesty’s Privy Council and the Chair of the House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee. Liam served in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet. He chaired the Global Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF, 2019–2025. The author of more than twenty publications, Liam’s previous book, The Inequality of Wealth: Why it Matters and How to Fix it, was shortlisted for the Westminster Book Awards 2024.

Sara Hobolt is the Sutherland Chair in European Institutions and the Head of the Department of Government at LSE. Her research focuses on elections, referendums, public opinion and political parties. In her forthcoming book, Tribal Politics. How Brexit Divided Britain, she examines how the Brexit vote gave rise to new political identities in Britain. She is the President of the European Political Science Society (EPSS) and the Chair of the European Election Studies.

Andy Summers is an Associate Professor of Law at LSE and an Associate of the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. His teaching and research focuses on tax law and policy, particularly the taxation of wealth. His work also investigates the measurement of inequality using tax data.

More about this event

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The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many of the School's departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

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