This is Tony Blair’s advice for Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer

The former prime minister and the head of his delivery unit, Sir Michael Barber, discuss what both Labour and the Conservatives can learn from them, as John Rentoul listens in

Tony Blair, the former prime minister, on the ‘science’ of governing (PA)

We had Tony Blair in our (virtual) seminar on Thursday at King’s College London. He was there to discuss Sir Michael Barber’s new book, Accomplishment: How to Achieve Ambitious and Challenging Things.

It was a fortuitously timed event, because Boris Johnson had announced the re-formation of the Number 10 Delivery Unit the previous day. Sir Michael was head of Blair’s delivery unit in 2001-05, and he has been drafted into Downing Street to advise the current government on how to deliver its ambitious plans for levelling up, net zero and better public services.

His advice was to set up a new delivery unit, and last week it was announced that it will be headed by NHS CCO Emily Lawson, when she has seen through her work running the vaccination programme. I understand that Boris Johnson says that, having criticised the “targets culture” as a journalist in the Blair years, he is now a “complete convert” to the idea of setting targets and having a unit to track progress towards them.