Richard Temple is the University Archivist at Senate House Library, University of London, the UK. He has also worked for the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick (UK), in West Africa, and at the University of the West Indies in Barbados. His published career includes articles for the Labour History Review, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, the Dictionary of Labour Biography, and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

"In the 1930s, R. H. Tawney declared that Labour had to prove that its idealism wasn't lunacy nor its realism mere torpor. 'Taken as Red' authoritatively illuminates the politics, people and times when it has succeeded - and failed - to achieve the appealing combination of principle and pragmatism needed to earn power."Lord KinnockLeader of the Labour Party 1983-1992 'This book is a welcome addition to the literature on the British Labour Party, especially in the centenary year of the first Labour government. Its real strength, however, is how Government policies on health, education, housing and transport played out in the lives of families, communities and individuals. By marrying social history with high politics, this book promises to be a valuable contribution to our understanding of modern Britain. The writing is engaging, clever and colourful. Temple has the much-needed ability to convey complex arguments and dry debates with a lightness of touch that would make Orwell smile.'Dr Janette MartinUniversity of Manchester'A timely reminder that, despite Labour's boundless capacity for disappointments and penchant for civil wars, many of the great social reforms of the last hundred years owe their origin to Labour governments.'Chris MullinEx-MP for Sunderland and ex-Minister in Tony Blair's government

Richard Temple is the University Archivist at Senate House Library, University of London, the UK. He has also worked for the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick (UK), in West Africa, and at the University of the West Indies in Barbados. His published career includes articles for the Labour History Review, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, the Dictionary of Labour Biography, and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

"In the 1930s, R. H. Tawney declared that Labour had to prove that its idealism wasn't lunacy nor its realism mere torpor. 'Taken as Red' authoritatively illuminates the politics, people and times when it has succeeded - and failed - to achieve the appealing combination of principle and pragmatism needed to earn power."Lord KinnockLeader of the Labour Party 1983-1992 'This book is a welcome addition to the literature on the British Labour Party, especially in the centenary year of the first Labour government. Its real strength, however, is how Government policies on health, education, housing and transport played out in the lives of families, communities and individuals. By marrying social history with high politics, this book promises to be a valuable contribution to our understanding of modern Britain. The writing is engaging, clever and colourful. Temple has the much-needed ability to convey complex arguments and dry debates with a lightness of touch that would make Orwell smile.'Dr Janette MartinUniversity of Manchester'A timely reminder that, despite Labour's boundless capacity for disappointments and penchant for civil wars, many of the great social reforms of the last hundred years owe their origin to Labour governments.'Chris MullinEx-MP for Sunderland and ex-Minister in Tony Blair's government

Richard Temple is the University Archivist at Senate House Library, University of London, the UK. He has also worked for the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick (UK), in West Africa, and at the University of the West Indies in Barbados. His published career includes articles for the Labour History Review, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, the Dictionary of Labour Biography, and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

"In the 1930s, R. H. Tawney declared that Labour had to prove that its idealism wasn't lunacy nor its realism mere torpor. 'Taken as Red' authoritatively illuminates the politics, people and times when it has succeeded - and failed - to achieve the appealing combination of principle and pragmatism needed to earn power."Lord KinnockLeader of the Labour Party 1983-1992 'This book is a welcome addition to the literature on the British Labour Party, especially in the centenary year of the first Labour government. Its real strength, however, is how Government policies on health, education, housing and transport played out in the lives of families, communities and individuals. By marrying social history with high politics, this book promises to be a valuable contribution to our understanding of modern Britain. The writing is engaging, clever and colourful. Temple has the much-needed ability to convey complex arguments and dry debates with a lightness of touch that would make Orwell smile.'Dr Janette MartinUniversity of Manchester'A timely reminder that, despite Labour's boundless capacity for disappointments and penchant for civil wars, many of the great social reforms of the last hundred years owe their origin to Labour governments.'Chris MullinEx-MP for Sunderland and ex-Minister in Tony Blair's government