Safety first : the making of new Labour / Paul Anderson and Nyta Mann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Anderson, Paul, 1959-

Contributor:

Mann, Nyta.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Labour Party (Great Britain).

Great Britain--Politics and government--1979-1997.

Great Britain.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

viii, 456 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Granta Books, 1997.

Summary:

New Labour is a smiling, Teflon party, and its hour has come. The historic election victory on May 1st 1997 was a decisive rejection of arrogant power, corruption and xenophobia.

This book is an extremely informative collective portrait of the people and the ideas that make up the new government. It explains where they came from, who influenced them and what compromises they have made in their disciplined pursuit of power. Anderson and Mann have had access to completely unauthorized information on how New Labour reached decisions about Europe. and how the party elite reached agreement over the economy. They explain the origins of the policies that will affect our lives for the next five years, and are good at making the intricate details of welfare and economic policy understandable.

Will Prime Minister Blair, Chancellor Brown and Home Secretary Straw govern Britain in accordance with the new realities of world politics and the world market -- finally accepting that the dream of equality is unachievable? Have they been captivated by the rhetoric of the free market, passing up the chance to humanize the redclawed capitalism advocated by Mrs Thatcher? Do they mean what they say when they speak of democracy and decentralization, and will they radically change the way the British state is governed -- or does their liberal rhetoric conceal the old centralizing impulse towards top-down Labour administration? Is their professed belief in liberty undermined by social authoritarianism?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1862070709

OCLC:

37778813