‘Why Keir Starmer will need a new identity politics of his own to keep Labour’s winning coalition together’
British voters rarely change their governments at election time. It has happened only three times – 1979, 1997…
Labour History
‘A troubled history: Leaders and their manifestos, from MacDonald to Wilson’
“Labour policy is directed to the creation of a humane and civilised society.” So announced Labour’s Appeal to…
‘100 years since Labour first came to power, we must ask why it so often loses’
This month heralds the publication of a swathe of books commemorating the first Labour government in January 1924.…
‘Labour conference’s influence has never lived up to its founders’ ideals’
While its delegates basked in by-election glory, few believed that this year’s Labour conference would shape Labour policy.…
Lessons from the racist Tory campaign of 1964 in Smethwick
Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech is notorious, but four years earlier the West Midlands had seen the…
10 social history visits for British politicos
New Lanark (Lanarkshire) The Robert Owen Museum (Montgomeryshire) The People’s Palace (Glasgow) St Giles’ Cathedral (Edinburgh) The People’s…
In defence of Labour Party History Junkies
The always excellent Hopi Sen has written about the surreal nature of ‘Labour realness’ debates. Such internal party…
