New Labour and Thatcherism

Political changes in Britain

Richard Heffernan, Palgrave, 234 pages, paperback, £14.99

In the 1979 election, Labour was defeated and the Tories gained power under the leadership of Thatcher. Initially, both right and left within the Labour Party fought tooth and nail against the Thatcherite agenda. But repeated Labour defeats in the subsequent elections in 1983, 1987 and 1992 were taken as proof that Labour could not win again unless it took drastic steps to modernise itself.

The process started when Tony Blair became Labour's leader in 1994. He soon made clear his rejection of Labour's plans to bring back the privatised utility services into public ownership, telling the Chamber of Commerce that "old Labour thought the role of government was to interfere with the market. New Labour believes the task of government is to make the market more dynamic".

This author makes a detailed analysis of the impact of Thatcherism on Labour's policies both before and after its win in 1997.