New Labour and Thatcherism

RICHARD HEFFERNAN is Lecturer in Government and Politics at The Open University in the UK, and has previously taught at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is co-author of Defeat from the Jaws of Victory: Inside Kinnock's Labour Party (1992) and co-editor of The Labour Party: a Centenary History (2000).

'In this arresting and cogent study, Richard Heffernan argues that Thatcherism inaugurated a new consensus in British politics and that the biggest demonstration of its success as a political and economic project is the transformation of the Labour Party into New Labour after 1983. In doing so he provides us with a powerful analytical framework for understanding and assessing processes of party and party system change. This book is certain to become a major reference point in the debate on the nature and significance of New Labour' - Andrew Gamble, Professor of Politics, University of Sheffield 'Richard Heffernan's book offers a comprehensive account of how a new centre-right consensus has become consolidated in contemporary British politics and about how this consensus has come to embrace New Labour. This is a valuable analysis of how political realignment can occur within a continuing party system'. - Peter Mair, Professor Comparative Politics, University of Leiden, The Netherlands

• Preface to the Paperback Edition Preface and Acknowledgements Exploring Political Change Beyond the Thatcher Decade: The Politics of 'New' Labour The Politics of Thatcherism Explaining Thatcherism: Project and Process Modernisation: The Transformation of the Labour Party How and Why Parties Change: Identifying Environmental Contexts Party Competition Driven Party Change: The 'Politics of Catch-Up' A Theory of Consensus Politics Thatcherism and the Reinvention of Labour Notes Bibliography Index