Tony Blair and New Labour

About the lecture

In this module, we think about the Blair governments of 1997-2007 and the rise of New Labour, focusing in particular on: (i) the historical background to the rise of Blair and New Labour, including Labour’s move to the right in the 1980s under Neil Kinnock, the emergence of an international context unfavourable to traditional left-wing economic policy and the decline of the working class in Britain; (ii) New Labour ideology as a “third way” combining a free market capitalist economy with a state-run welfare safety net; (iii) the reasons for Labour’s success in the 1997 and 2001 elections; (iv) New Labour social and economic policies, including the marketisation and privatisation of public services such as health and education, the implementation of in-work benefits, and the deregulation of the financial sector.

About the lecturer

John Callaghan is Professor of Politics and Contemporary History and the University of Salford, specialising in the history of the British Labour Party, the history of socialism and political theory. His recent publications include Communism in Britain: A Documentary History (2011) and British Labour and Foreign Policy: A History (2007).