David Miliband and Jon Cruddas are to hold a second series of their Labour's Future seminars in the coming weeks.
Among the expected speakers are Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams and Will Hutton, who was commissioned by the prime minister and the chancellor to look into fair pay.
The seminar involving Hutton, and chaired by Miliband, is entitled: "How did we get into this mess and how do we get out of it?"
Another topic up for discussion is "Know your enemy: how the Conservative Party wins and holds on to power".
Last year, the first series of seminars were described by some as a sign that the older Miliband was inching his way back to frontline politics.
Insiders say they are designed to "stimulate debate within the parliamentary Labour Party”.
In an interview with Cruddas recently, he told me: "I just think in the last few months the penny has dropped about the scale of our defeat. It was all a bit suspended animation because of the leadership election for six months.
"It created a false environment around Labour. Now the historic depths of our defeat are beginning to kick in.
"People are beginning to realise the scale of the deficit programme and the cuts. And I think that is a good thing. I know everyone else says that seems bad but you have to confront this before you can move on. People are beginning to realise how difficult our task is."
The full list of Labour's Future lectures are below:
Monday 27 February
Time: 4.30 - 5.45pm
Venue: Committee Room 16
What is Britain's place in Europe?
Speaker Shirley Williams (Liberal Democrat peer)
Chair: David Miliband
Monday 5 March
How did we get into this mess and how do we get out of it?
Speaker Will Hutton (Principal, Hertford College, Oxford)
Chair: David Miliband
Monday 12 March
Extremism in England
Speakers Ruth Smeeth and Nick Lowles (Hope not Hate)
Chair: Jon Cruddas
Monday 19 March
Know Your Enemy: How the Conservative Party Wins and Holds on to Power
Speaker Tim Bale (Professor of Politics, Sussex University)
Chair: Jon Cruddas
Comments
Clr Ralph Baldwin / February 13 2012 3:29pm
Lol the blind self-interest of these people and their "polices" got Labour into the mess it is in now they have the audacity, having made their money to tell us all how everyne else must get them out of the mess they created.
Its truly comic.
Just watching them fail to answer any Questions on Question Time as they pretend nobody else can see their real motives. There is only one way they can get out of the mess they created and it is simple. They must leave politics and allow others to come in and build trust in an age of open information, communication that they barely understand and fail to cope with. As for their arrogance and sense of blatently unqualified superiority, well the public can see through it now. When Labour fails as a moral force the default position is Conservative. I know from personal experience Labour has little or no morality at the Parliamentary level currently and Milliband and Cruddas are the last people to address problems this country faces.