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5. New Labour to Jeremy Corbyn

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the development of the Labour Party from its largest ever electoral victory in 1997 to the controversial leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, focusing in particular on: (i) Tony Blair’s ideological restructuring of the party as New Labour and his symbolic altering of Clause IV of the Party Constitution, (ii) New Labour’s efforts to fuse the free-market model of the outgoing Conservative government with a more traditional Labour welfarism, (iii) relations with the United States and Blair’s foreign policy as the dominant feature of his legacy to this day, (iv) Labour’s response to the 2007/8 financial crisis and the appointment of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, (v) the failure of Ed Miliband to challenge the Conservatives in 2015, and (vi) the appointment of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour’s most radical left-wing leader since the early 1980s.

Course

In this course, Dr Kevin Hickson (University of Liverpool) examines the history of the Labour Party from its founding as the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 to the present-day leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. In the first module, we think about the origins and growth of the Labour Party until the end of the Second World War. The second module focuses on the political achievements and enduring legacies of Labour’s first majority government under Clement Attlee, 1945-51. In the third module, we consider the difficulties faced by Harold Wilson and James Callaghan who led Labour governments from 1964-70 and 1974-9. In the fourth module, we think about Labour’s long period in opposition from 1979-97 and try to understand why Labour was so incapable of succeeding in general elections, focusing in particular on the legacy of the 1974-9 Wilson/Callaghan governments. Finally, in the fifth module, we think about the period from 1997 to the present, focusing in particular on the phenomenon of New Labour and the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

Lecturer

Dr Kevin Hickson is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Liverpool. His teaching and research interests are in the field of British politics, political history and political ideologies.