Remoralizing Britain?

Peter Scott is Senior Lecturer in Christian Social Thought and Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester. Chris Baker is Director of Research for the William Temple Foundation and Part-time Lecturer at the University of Manchester in Urban Theology. His research focuses on the impact of faith based engagement in UK Civil Society and Public Policy. His recent book The Hybrid Church in the City: Third Space Thinking was published by Ashgate in 2007. Elaine L. Graham is Samuel Ferguson Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology, University of Manchester, England.

"This collection of essays on the moral claims of Tony Blair's New Labour strategy and government could not be more timely and relevant. With the collapse of its economic claim to growing prosperity and financial prudence, what is left to sustain New Labour's agenda? Remoralizing Britain provides a unique interdisciplinary account of the religious sources and political impact of New Labour's critical turn from common ownership to communal values as the basis of its electoral appeal and government policies. These essays evaluate how that ethical turn worked out in practice in the Blair years. I commend this major case study to all who are concerned about the relationship between morality and government as citizens, members of faith communities and scholars." - William Storrar, Director, Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton.

• 1. Introduction: Doing God? Public Theology under Blair, Elaine Graham (University of Manchester, UK); Part I: Ethics and Politics; 2. New Labour and the Issue of Multiculturalism, Anthony Giddens (London School of Economics, UK); 3. Blair and Trust in Politics: No Saint But Not a Sinner, Gerry Stoker (University of Southampton, UK); 4. Demoralising Britain: 10 Years of Depoliticisation, Stefan Skrimshire (University of Manchester, UK); 5. The Creation of a Liberal Labour Tradition, Will Hutton (former editor of the Observer and Director of the Work Foundation, UK); 6. Gordon Brown and his Presbyterian Moral Compass, Douglas Gay (University of Glasgow, Scotland); Part II: Justice and Community; 7. Are We Happier, Mr Brown? John Atherton (William Temple Foundation, UK); 8. Social Justice, Social Control or the Pursuit of Happiness? The Goals and Values of the Regeneration Industry, Jess Steele (Development Trust Association, UK); 9. Community and Identity: Ten Years in the History of a New Labour Concept, Mark Chapman (Ripon College, Cuddesdon, UK); 10. Constructing Christian Right Enemies and Allies: US, UK and Eastern Europe, Cynthia Burack (Ohio State University, USA) and Angelia R. Wilson (University of Manchester, UK); 11. The Moral Bases of the Black Panther's Breakfast Program, Head Start (US) and Sure Start (UK), Emily Hicks (San Diego State University, USA); 12. Putting the Moral Majority Back in Charge: New Labour's Punitive Politics of Respect, Phil Edwards (University of Manchester, UK); Part III: Justice and International Order; 13. Tony Blair and the Commission for Africa: A Fig Leaf For Iraq or a Moral Imperative?, Paul Vallely (the Independent); 14. Soul Brothers? Why Tony Blair Backs George W. Bush's Foreign Policy, Inderjeet Parmar (University of Manchester, UK); 15. The Intertwining of the Ethical, Theological and the Political in the Interpretation of New Labour's Governance, Peter Manley Scott (University of Manchester, UK), Elaine Graham (University of Manchester, UK) and Chris Baker (University of Manchester, UK).