Westminster’s best-known movers and shakers including spin doctor Alastair Campbell and Covid vaccine supremo Dame Kate Bingham to appear at Buxton International Festival

Alastair Campbell talks about his new book on politics at Buxton International Festiva

Britain’s political centre of gravity shifts to Derbyshire in July as some of Westminster’s best-known movers and shakers set out their stalls at Buxton International Festival (BIF).

Big beasts ranging from legendary Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell to Covid vaccine supremo Dame Kate Bingham will set out their visions for the UK and take questions from the public.

“BIF’s books programmehas built up a remarkable reputation among those at the heart of British political and cultural life, from ministers to media commentators,” said the event’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Williams.

Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee demonstrates how Britain's class system entrenches privilege for the few

“This year sees an exceptional line-up of speakers who have been at the heart of shaping the events such as the Covid pandemic which in turn have shaped our lives, as well as those who have plans for how our future should look.

“One example is Henry Dimbleby, the Government’s Food Tsar, who will be talking about his new book, Ravenous: Why our appetite is killing us and theplanet, and what we can do about it.”

BBC foreign correspondent Jeremy Bowen will bring his experience as a witness to the tragedy of the Middle East for the last three decades, while Alastair Campbell will try to answer the question many people ask when faced with the politics of today: “What Can I Do?”, which is also the title of his newbook.

“Surely this is a book that personifies the BIF tagline‘opinion forming’”, said Book Festival Director Victoria Dawson.

Cathy Ashton, the EU's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, will take audiences behind the scenes in the lead up to the Ukraine war.

“Our guest authors are often surprised bythe beauty of our town, the calibre of their fellow speakers and the world class quality of our music and operas.

Perhaps it’s time to share our more than four-decade long secret.” New Statesman writer Tomiwa Olowade will be challenging opinions when he talks about his newbook This Is Not America: Why We Need a Different Conversation on Race, which argues that too much of the debate about racism in the UK is viewed through the prism of the USA. Opinions will be generated—and no doubt divided—by the veteran Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee; playwright Sir David Hare, Tory peer Lord Finkelstein; ex-MP Chris Mullin who exposed the injustice of the Birmingham Six’s convictions, and Dame Kate Bingham, widely credited with the success of the Covid vaccine are also in the programme.

History will be updated by experts, along with historians of eras ranging from the Aztecs to the Jacobeans, and nature, always a popular theme at BIF, is covered by renowned Derbyshire author Mark Cocker, re-wilding advocate Isabella Tree and Jonathan Kennedy, who will talk about how diseases have shaped humans and their history. BIF runs from July 6 to 23 with opera, music and jazz in Buxton’s historic Opera House and other venues.

For more, go to buxtonfestival.co.uk