Speak for Britain!
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.80
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Speak for Britain!: A New History of the Labour Party for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.80, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
An original and challenging interpretation of the Labour Party's evolution.
Product Description
* Appearing at a critical juncture in the history of the Labour Party, Speak for Britain! provides an original and challenging interpretation of Labour's evolution from its sectional trade union origins to its present status as a national governing party.
* Making use of a wide range of primary sources as well as constituency party records that reveal the dynamics of membership recruitment and the adoption of candidates, Martin Pugh challenges many traditional accounts written from the perspective of the national leadership.
* Controversially, he argues that Labour never entirely succeeded in becoming 'the party of the working class'. Rather than converting the whole working class to Socialism, it skilfully adapted itself to the variations in local and regional political cultures by making use of Victorian Liberal-Radical traditions in some areas and employing a populist Tory brand of politics in others. Moreover, the character of the party was shaped by the recruitment of many of its influential leaders from middle and upper-class Conservative backgrounds.
* Speak for Britain! charts Labour's rise to power by re-examining the importance of the First World War, the General Strike of 1926, Labour's breakthrough at the 1945 general election, the influence of post-war affluence and consumerism on the fortunes and character of the party, and its revival after the defeats of the Thatcher era.
* Finally, in a fresh assessment of Labour in government since 1997 Martin Pugh shows how the party became marginalized and emasculated by Tony Blair's presidential style of government. He also reveals one of the party's enduring weaknesses: the tendency to choose the wrong leaders - and then to hang on to them for too long.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read the excellent history of the tory party by Alan Clark I wanted something similar covering the Labour party. This was not the book I wanted. Pugh skips over most of the eighties and nineties and seems to go from 1979 to 1997 in the space of a few pages while the pre-war period is overflowing with names and events. Not much in the way of detail on internal politics and the jockeying for position in the Kinnock era or after John Smiths death or even after 1997 and the Brown/Blair struggles. If you have read the other reviews and the summary on this page then you have pretty much all the interesting information this book contains.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Previously possessing only a rough knowledge of Labour Party history, I found Pugh's book an excellent one which explored the development of the movement from its inception from the late Victorian period through to just before Brown's 2010 defeat. Word for word, the book tends to afford greater coverage to the first half of Labour history: this suited me as I am (probably like most people) stronger on post-WWII Labour Party history.
An enduring theme throughout the book is the tension between Labour's patriotic, semi-capitalist conservatism and more radical socialistic impulses. What is striking is how throughout Labour's history it has effectively embraced the former. The party of the last decade or so chimes with this historical trend in its embrace of the capitalist model.
One of the noticeable features of the book for me is Pugh's relatively cursory treatment of the party in the past decade or two. Does this simple fact simply reflect how little there really is to say about the modern Labour Party in terms of distinctive policies and ideas? As for Blair, Pugh cleverly attempts to understand him through a brief examination of his father Leo. What emerges is a slighly muddled, very conservative polictial opportunist. Fascinating.
An enduring theme throughout the book is the tension between Labour's patriotic, semi-capitalist conservatism and more radical socialistic impulses. What is striking is how throughout Labour's history it has effectively embraced the former. The party of the last decade or so chimes with this historical trend in its embrace of the capitalist model.
One of the noticeable features of the book for me is Pugh's relatively cursory treatment of the party in the past decade or two. Does this simple fact simply reflect how little there really is to say about the modern Labour Party in terms of distinctive policies and ideas? As for Blair, Pugh cleverly attempts to understand him through a brief examination of his father Leo. What emerges is a slighly muddled, very conservative polictial opportunist. Fascinating.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At a time when the long term future of the Labour Party is in some doubt- this is a timely , well- written book- scholarly yet accesible to the general reader.I particularly liked the research the author had done on local Labour parties. He shows clearly that during the fevered Bevanite split of the 1950s- much of this took place in the hot-house atmosphere of Westminster and the media and that on the ground the Labour Party remained much more united and stronger than it was given credit for.
Pugh also turns the conventional wisdom about previous Labour figures on its head.He argues (correctly ,I think, in each case)-that
-Attlee was overrated as a leader- a good administrator in government but a poor politician.He badly bungled the dates for the 1950 and 1951 elections and condemned Labour to 13 years in opposition.
that Herbert Morrison is an under-rated figure- who built Labours local base in London in the 1930s and if he had been PM would have timed the 1950 election correctly.
- Harold Wilson was a far better leader than Hugh Gaitskell. Gaitskell was politically inept and would have lost the 1964 election ,which Wilson narrowly won.
-Jim Callaghan was a dud from the start and his government would have ended badly whatever happened.
Pughs verdict on Blair and Brown is scathing and richly deserved
An up-date on the 2010 election analyses the result and asseses the chance of a Labour recovery- lets hope we can have a new edition where Pugh looks at Ed Millibands election and his leadership!
This book is highly recommended.
Pugh also turns the conventional wisdom about previous Labour figures on its head.He argues (correctly ,I think, in each case)-that
-Attlee was overrated as a leader- a good administrator in government but a poor politician.He badly bungled the dates for the 1950 and 1951 elections and condemned Labour to 13 years in opposition.
that Herbert Morrison is an under-rated figure- who built Labours local base in London in the 1930s and if he had been PM would have timed the 1950 election correctly.
- Harold Wilson was a far better leader than Hugh Gaitskell. Gaitskell was politically inept and would have lost the 1964 election ,which Wilson narrowly won.
-Jim Callaghan was a dud from the start and his government would have ended badly whatever happened.
Pughs verdict on Blair and Brown is scathing and richly deserved
An up-date on the 2010 election analyses the result and asseses the chance of a Labour recovery- lets hope we can have a new edition where Pugh looks at Ed Millibands election and his leadership!
This book is highly recommended.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tedious
Maybe the book improved but after a few chapters of turgid fact recitation I wasn't ready to waste my holiday giving it more of a chance.
Published 8 months ago by Mr Cynic
Plodding History
Pugh's hisotry is plodding and is, which no book on history shouyld be, uninteresting. For Pugh, every time Labour is in power, it is a sell-out. Atlee was poor, Wilson lost it. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Andy (andwalsh@lineone.net)
Revie of Speak for England!
At a time when a former recent Lab PM has produced his own autobiography. Pugh's book comes out at an interesting time. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Charlie Midnight
Oustanding
This is an outstanding overview of the Labour Party up to 1997. It also serves as a fascinating insight into the wider political landscape of the UK. Read more
Published 19 months ago by gd
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland
- Books > History > Political History > Democracy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Countries & Regions > UK > Political Parties > Labour Party
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Political Science & Ideology > Socialism
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
