Introduction: Governing from the Centre‐Left in the 2020s

Abstract The UK Labour Party's return to power in 2024 followed a wave of victories by its centre‐left counterparts in the period during and after the Covid pandemic. From the perspective of 2025, however, the ‘progressive moment’ of the early 2020s looks short‐lived, as the political pendulum has swung rightwards in the United States and elsewhere. This special collection examines the experiences of recent centre‐left governments in five countries—Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Germany—and considers what lessons they hold for Sir Keir Starmer and his colleagues.