Scott Cresswell finds Denis MacShanes's book a thought-provoking mixture of history and memoir It should remain and always be a worrying thought for British progressives, social democrats, and democratic socialists that the Labour Party rarely wins general elections. Since June 1970, there have only been eighteen years of Labour government: 1974-79, 1997-2010. Countless numbers of … Continue reading Must Labour Always Lose?
Guest Writers
Victor Grayson: Labour’s Lost Revolutionary?
Review by Tom Chidwick Having been in government for thirty-two out of the last one hundred years, the Labour Party occupies more than its fair share of the pews in the pantheon of unjustly forgotten parliamentarians of the previous century. From ILP stalwarts George Barnes and John Wheatley to devolutionist Scots of the Seventies John … Continue reading Victor Grayson: Labour’s Lost Revolutionary?
What if Scotland voted “Yes” to an Assembly in 1979?
Tom Chidwick wonders what would have happend if Scotland had voted Yes in the 1979 referendum...... As the country’s first referendum campaign drew to a close, Gordon Brown, the chairman of the Labour Party’s official ‘Labour Movement Yes’ campaign, warned that ‘to be swayed now by the scaremongering and false fears peddled by the money … Continue reading What if Scotland voted “Yes” to an Assembly in 1979?
Labour Lives: The Story of John P. Mackintosh
When the death of John P. Mackintosh, the Labour Member of Parliament for Berwick and East Lothian, was announced on 31 July 1978, William Russell, the Glasgow Herald’s man in SW1A, reflected on the premature passing of a man ‘who looked a winner but failed to conquer’. Aged only 48 but having been an MP since … Continue reading Labour Lives: The Story of John P. Mackintosh
Three Lights Shining in Buckinghamshire
BY PAUL RICHARDS The leafy lanes and pretty Chiltern villages surrounding Chesham and Amersham are not immediately redolent of Labour history. Swan Bottom is a long way from Clydeside, and Cholesbury is no Tolpuddle. Yet growing up in the area, I was always fascinated by the stories of three Labour titans who were drawn to … Continue reading Three Lights Shining in Buckinghamshire
Back to School: Labour and the Great Education Debate
The Great Debate about education is a fascinating episode, both in the context of James Callaghan's Premiership and the ongoing argument about the purpose and practice of education. BY MARK WILLIAMS The Great Debate can be seen as a sequence of events, running from late 1976 to 1977. The critical moment was Callaghan's high-profile speech … Continue reading Back to School: Labour and the Great Education Debate
“Come Referendum Day” – The Story of the 1979 Scottish Referendum (Part Three)
This is the third part of @tomchidwick look at the 1979 Scottish Referendum. The first part can be read here and the second here. Reflecting on his boyhood in Fife in Before the Oil Ran Out, Ian Jack, former editor of the Independent on Sunday, explained that, as a result of his father’s part in Scotland’s heavy industrial workforce, ‘the past … Continue reading “Come Referendum Day” – The Story of the 1979 Scottish Referendum (Part Three)
“A Kingdom on the Brink” – The Story of the 1979 Scottish Referendum (Part One)
By Tom Chidwick On 10 January 1979, after a six-day summit in Guadeloupe with President Jimmy Carter, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, an avuncular British Prime Minister James Callaghan touched down at Heathrow Airport to be met with a pack of the Fourth Estate. With severe frosts and heavy snowfall, a mean … Continue reading “A Kingdom on the Brink” – The Story of the 1979 Scottish Referendum (Part One)
Tides of History 