Duncan Tanner – författare

The Labour Party's centenary is an appropriate moment to evaluate its performance across the twentieth century, and to reflect on why a party which has so many achievements to its credit nonetheless spent so much of the period in opposition. Duncan Tanner, Pat Thane and Nick Tiratsoo have assembled a team of acknowledged experts who cover a wide range of key issues, from economic policy to gender. The editors also provide a lucid, accessible introduction. Labour's First Century covers the most important areas of party policy and practice, always placing these in a broader context. Taken together, these essays challenge those who minimize the party's contribution, whilst they also explain why mistakes and weaknesses have occurred. Everyone interested in British political history - whether supporters or opponents of the Labour Party - will need to read Labour's First Century.

The nature and causes of the change in Liberal and Labour politics between 1900 and 1918 is a much argued question. There exists an enormous literature on the nature of the parties (their policies, ideas and aims) and on electoral change. Political Change and the Labour Party 1900-1918 embraces every aspect of these debates, providing a new and coherent explanation of the whole process by which Labour emerged as the principal party of opposition to the Conservatives. Dr Tanner utilises extensive data from the respective party records to examine the nature of the Liberal and Labour parties prior to 1914, both at the political centre and in the constituencies. In contrast to other accounts he does not neglect the social and political changes wrought by war. This book marks a major contribution to a perennial debate, with powerful implications for the study of electoral politics and the history of the Labour party in the first half of the twentieth century.

The Labour Party's centenary is an appropriate moment to evaluate its performance across the twentieth century, and to reflect on why a party which has so many achievements to its credit nonetheless spent so much of the period in opposition. Duncan Tanner, Pat Thane and Nick Tiratsoo have assembled a team of acknowledged experts who cover a wide range of key issues, from economic policy to gender. The editors also provide a lucid, accessible introduction. Labour's First Century covers the most important areas of party policy and practice, always placing these in a broader context. Taken together, these essays challenge those who minimize the party's contribution, whilst they also explain why mistakes and weaknesses have occurred. Everyone interested in British political history - whether supporters or opponents of the Labour Party - will need to read Labour's First Century.

This book is the first in-depth study of the debates over devolution in the four nations of the UK in the period up to 1939. It explores divergent trends and attitudes towards the principle of devolution at both local and national (UK) levels, explains the limitations of devolution as a political ideal and the inherent contradictions in the debates over devolution which were unresolvable in the period under study.The book also demonstrates the enduring potency of an all-British context and of the influence and power of those who wished to defend the status quo. It investigates the role of national - and Imperial - identities in the debates over devolution, highlighting the continuing value and importance of ‘Britishness’ and British identity as vital factors in moulding popular opinion and support for established systems of governance. In so doing, the book offers fresh perspectives on the development of nationalisms in the ‘Celtic fringe’ during this period and demonstrates the problems and limitations of such identities as ways of mobilizing political opposition.

This book is the first in-depth study of the debates over devolution in the four nations of the UK in the period up to 1939. It explores divergent trends and attitudes towards the principle of devolution at both local and national (UK) levels, explains the limitations of devolution as a political ideal and the inherent contradictions in the debates over devolution which were unresolvable in the period under study.The book also demonstrates the enduring potency of an all-British context and of the influence and power of those who wished to defend the status quo. It investigates the role of national - and Imperial - identities in the debates over devolution, highlighting the continuing value and importance of ‘Britishness’ and British identity as vital factors in moulding popular opinion and support for established systems of governance. In so doing, the book offers fresh perspectives on the development of nationalisms in the ‘Celtic fringe’ during this period and demonstrates the problems and limitations of such identities as ways of mobilizing political opposition.

In the early twentieth century, the Labour Party was a growing political force in Britain. Founded in 1900, as an amalgamation of a number of small socialist groups brought together by the Trade Union Congress, by the 1920s it had overtaken the Liberal Party in terms of general election success. It went on to form its first, albeit minority, governments in 1924 and 1929-1931 under the leadership of Ramsay MacDonald, who became the first ever Labour Prime Minister. This book, by the acclaimed Labour historian, the late Duncan Tanner, looks at the early years of the Labour Party's history, from the 1906 election, in which the Labour Representative Committee won just 29 seats, to the 1929 election when Labour became the largest party in the House of Commons for the first time. He considers the reasons behind Labour's meteoric rise, together with an analysis of the political and social climate of the time and the impact of World War I and prominent left-wing intellectuals. The catastrophic split of the Liberal Party at the height of World War I gave a large boost to the fledgling Labour Party, who provided a new ideological home for many disenchanted Liberal supporters.The first Labour government, of 1924, lasted a mere nine months, but managed to pass a number of key pieces of social legislation - including the Wheatley Housing Act which provided for the construction of 500,000 homes to be rented to working class families - which was to set the tone for Labour policy for the first of the century. By the time the Party came to power a second time in 1929 they had a stronger base of support, but were still reliant on the floundering Liberal Party in order to pass legislation.