Liam Byrne is the Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Hodge Hill and Shadow Minister for Universities, Science and Skills.

In Westminster, Liam has been asked to do some of the hardest jobs in government – in the Home Office, Downing Street and HM Treasury, creating the UK Border Agency, reorganising No 10 for Gordon Brown, and drawing up Labour’s deficit reduction plan for Alistair Darling. In Opposition, Liam has chaired Labour’s policy review, led the Shadow DWP team and is now Shadow Minister for Skills, Science and Higher Education.

Liam is the author of over twenty books and pamphlets about Britain’s future and is a passionate advocate of closer ties between Britain and Asia. His most recent book is, Turning to Face the East (2013) examining how Britain can prosper in the Asian century. He is also the author of the Road to Full Employment (Fabians 2013), Reinventing Government Again (SMF, 2009) and Local Government Transformed (Baseline, 2005). He is governor of the Institute of Government and lives in Birmingham.