Matt Beech is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull. His most recent monograph, with Kevin Hickson, is Labour’s Thinkers: The Intellectual Roots of Labour from Tawney to Gordon Brown (2007).Simon Lee is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Hull. His research interests include global political economy, the politics and national identity of England and the politics of Gordon Brown. His most recent monograph is Best for Britain? The Politics and Legacy of Gordon Brown (2007).

• 1. Introduction: The Brown Government Matt Beech and Simon Lee 2. A Puzzle of Ideas and Policy: Gordon Brown as Prime Minister Matt Beech 3. Rock of Stability? The Political Economy of the Brown Government Simon Lee 4. The Public Services under Gordon Brown: Similar Reforms, Less Money Simon Griffiths 5. Gordon Brown and Public Services Reform: A Project in Search of a ‘Big Idea’? Mark Evans 6. Work to be Done? Welfare Reform from Blair to Brown Stephen Driver 7. Gordon Brown and International Policy Victoria Honeyman 8. Conclusions: The Prospects of Brown’s Social Democracy Matt Beech and Simon Lee

Matt Beech is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull. His most recent monograph, with Kevin Hickson, is Labour’s Thinkers: The Intellectual Roots of Labour from Tawney to Gordon Brown (2007).Simon Lee is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Hull. His research interests include global political economy, the politics and national identity of England and the politics of Gordon Brown. His most recent monograph is Best for Britain? The Politics and Legacy of Gordon Brown (2007).

• 1. Introduction: The Brown Government Matt Beech and Simon Lee 2. A Puzzle of Ideas and Policy: Gordon Brown as Prime Minister Matt Beech 3. Rock of Stability? The Political Economy of the Brown Government Simon Lee 4. The Public Services under Gordon Brown: Similar Reforms, Less Money Simon Griffiths 5. Gordon Brown and Public Services Reform: A Project in Search of a ‘Big Idea’? Mark Evans 6. Work to be Done? Welfare Reform from Blair to Brown Stephen Driver 7. Gordon Brown and International Policy Victoria Honeyman 8. Conclusions: The Prospects of Brown’s Social Democracy Matt Beech and Simon Lee

Matt Beech is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull. His most recent monograph, with Kevin Hickson, is Labour’s Thinkers: The Intellectual Roots of Labour from Tawney to Gordon Brown (2007).Simon Lee is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Hull. His research interests include global political economy, the politics and national identity of England and the politics of Gordon Brown. His most recent monograph is Best for Britain? The Politics and Legacy of Gordon Brown (2007).

• 1. Introduction: The Brown Government Matt Beech and Simon Lee 2. A Puzzle of Ideas and Policy: Gordon Brown as Prime Minister Matt Beech 3. Rock of Stability? The Political Economy of the Brown Government Simon Lee 4. The Public Services under Gordon Brown: Similar Reforms, Less Money Simon Griffiths 5. Gordon Brown and Public Services Reform: A Project in Search of a ‘Big Idea’? Mark Evans 6. Work to be Done? Welfare Reform from Blair to Brown Stephen Driver 7. Gordon Brown and International Policy Victoria Honeyman 8. Conclusions: The Prospects of Brown’s Social Democracy Matt Beech and Simon Lee