With over 1.4 million members, Unite is Britain’s biggest union, representing more than a fifth of all trade unionists in the UK. A mainly private sector union, it is also well represented in parts of the public sector—local government, the… Continue Reading
A review of John Prescott with Hunter Davies, Prezza: Pulling No Punches (Headline, 2008), £18.99; Peter Mandelson, The Third Man: Life At The Heart Of New Labour (Harper Press, 2010), £25; Tony Blair, A Journey (Hutchinson, 2010), £25 With David… Continue Reading
It is more than a little ironic that the recent race for the leadership of the Labour Party came down to a contest between the Miliband brothers.1 For their dad, Ralph, was the author of a devastating socialist critique of… Continue Reading
The least expected beneficiary of the September-October 2008 financial crisis was Gordon Brown. The whole media, and at least half the cabinet, regarded him as one of the living dead in the run-up to the Labour Party conference. Within weeks… Continue Reading
The smell of death around this government is so overpowering it seems to have anaesthetised them all… The imaginary Blair/Brown ideological distinction has now been exposed as the sham it always was… The sad truth is that he [Brown] opposed… Continue Reading
A review of Mark Phythian, The Labour Party, War and International Relations 1945–2006 (Routledge, 2007), £19.99 One response to the Iraq war has been an attempt to blame it on Tony Blair personally and to somehow exonerate the Labour Party.… Continue Reading
Only a fool would attempt to make some comments about the health and future of the Labour Party just a few weeks before a general election provides a very useful snapshot of its popularity and makes the task much easier.… Continue Reading
Cities are at the centre of politics in Britain today. More than 80 percent of the UK population live in cities and their suburban hinterland.1 New Labour has made the regeneration of urban spaces through an ‘urban renaissance’ a key… Continue Reading
Capitalism has always had a problem with education. Since the Industrial Revolution, the ruling class’s need to increase the skills of future workers has been contradicted by its fear of them becoming articulate, knowledgeable and independent-minded. Hannah Moore, religious philanthropist… Continue Reading
Britain after eight years of Blair Chris Harman Britain was on the eve of an election as we prepared this issue of the journal. The articles in this section deal with changes that have occurred under New Labour. Most readers… Continue Reading