The labour movement in Britain from Thatcher to Blair

Keith Barlow, Peter Lang, paperback, 304 pages, £32.30

This book, with a foreword by former Labour Party general secretary Jim Mortimer, grew from a doctoral thesis but has been extended.

It examines in some detail many of the late 20th century’s seminal industrial disputes such as those at the former British Leyland motor manufacturing company and the various miners’ strikes.

Drawing heavily on official sources it provides a detailed analysis of developments, particularly during the Thatcher period, with coverage of the Blair era by comparison fairly brief.

The source material is immensely varied drawing on everything from History of trade unionism, first published in 1894 by eminent Fabians Sidney and Beatrice Webb, to Through the looking glass by left political activist Liz Davies, published in 2001.

Barlow develops several central themes including the success, in their own terms, of the Conservative governments of the 1980s in bringing about a major restructuring of the British economy, and how this influenced the policies of the Blair governments. In the process, he examines the significance of the post-1945 “consensus”, and the foundations of Tory anti-trade union legislation during the 1980s and 1990s, through to the Labour landslide of 1997.

A useful contribution to an understanding of this important period.