Pike, K. and Hindmoor, A. orcid.org/0000-0002-0335-2509 (2020) Do as I did not as I say : Blair, New Labour and party traditions. The Political Quarterly, 91 (1). pp. 148-155. ISSN 0032-3179
Abstract
Corbynism, to its internal critics, is a ‘hard left’ anachronism. New Labour, to its detractors, was basically Thatcherism. We argue these meta narratives, critical to internal identity, are flawed. They are pulling the party apart for reasons of political strength and at the expense both of broader interpretation and longer term cohesion. Through an analysis of ‘early’ New Labour, we show how Blair’s project ended is not how it began, and therefore isn’t the whole story. The now half-forgotten history of New Labour in opposition holds important lessons, including for those trying, for the most part unsuccessfully, to keep the ‘modernising’ flame alive. If the modernisers are to win more converts to their cause they must learn to do what Blair and New Labour did in opposition and not what Blair says today. Drawing on the concept of Labour’s ‘ethos’, we offer five lessons from the party’s past.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Authors 2019. The Political Quarterly © The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2019 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Political Quarterly. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Corbyn; Blair; Labour; ethos; modernisers; socialism |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Politics and International Relations (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 14 Nov 2019 10:37 |
Last Modified: | 12 Dec 2020 01:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/1467-923X.12791 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:153220 |