Knowing where the shoe pinches: three Labour ministers reflect on their experiences in social work and politics

Abstract

Three Labour politicians with experience in government and backgrounds in social work spoke on a conference panel about politics and social work. All had moved into electoral politics with the view that there were limits to the radical change that social work could achieve. They discussed how social work has influenced their political work and how constituency casework illuminates the impact of policies on individuals. This article examines the themes of the discussion.

Editorial

“…First, Ballantyne (2022) engages with debates around open access and how pay walls restrict access to knowledge -and what this means for radical social work academics and practitioners. Second, Scourfield and Warner (2022) offer an interesting article based on interviews with three former Labour Party members and office holders -who are also social work trained -to evaluate their 'influence' on the political process and success in importing social work concerns into the political field.…”