Transcript Labour Party: A PowerPoint Presentation

Lecture 12
The Labour Party and
the Origins of New Labour
Dr Tom Quinn
GV204 – The New British Politics
22 January 2008
Outline
• Aim of lecture: To examine briefly the
Labour Party’s history and then explore the
phenomenon of ‘New Labour’
• Formation of the Labour Party
• Previous Labour Governments
• Labour’s ‘modernisation’ under Blair
• Ideology of the ‘Third Way’
• The record of New Labour in Government
British Socialism
• Parliamentarist, ‘moderate’, gradualist
• Ethical socialism – Christian morality
• Fabians – rationalism > morality; state planning
• Trade unionism
• Values: equality, community, cooperation, public
ownership (Clause 4)
• ‘To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of
their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that
may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of
the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and the
best obtainable system of popular administration and control
of each industry or service.’
Formation of the Labour Party
• 19th century – strong trade unions in UK
• Labour Party formed in 1900
• Response to legal attacks on unions
• Dominated by unions – hence, ‘Labour’ Party
– Party of the organised working class
• Socialist societies (e.g. Fabians)
• Extension of suffrage 1918
• Overtook Liberals in 1920s
• Labour Govts in 1924 and 1929-31
• Party split in 1931
Attlee Government 1945-51
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Nationalisation of key industries
Welfare state (Beveridge Report)
Formation of National Health Service
Keynesian demand-management
High-water mark of British socialism – and
accepted by Tories in 1950s!
• Opposition in 1950s – splits between Left
and Right in Labour Party
Labour’s Problems in Govt: 60s & 70s
• Wilson Govts 1964-70 and 1974-76
• Economic recessions
• Dilemma: maintain high spending and
redistribution – or target inflation?
• Conflict with unions
• Callaghan Govt 1976-79
• End of ‘tax & spend’ statist consensus
• ‘Winter of Discontent’ 1978-79 – wave of strikes
that brought down Labour Govt
Wilderness Years: 1979-97
• 1979-83: shift to Left – electorally damaging
• Formation of SDP in 1981
• 1983-92: ‘modernisation’ under Kinnock
• Abandoned left-wing policies on economy, defence
• Centralised power inside Labour Party
• Four consecutive electoral defeats
• 1992-94: Smith – reformed link with unions
• 1994: Blair elected as ultra-moderniser
Blair: Modernising the Labour Party
• Rebranded party as ‘New Labour’
• Tackling internal opponents (Left & unions)
• Rewriting Clause IV
• Confront 4 major changes
1. Electoral – popularity of Tory policies
• No return to ‘tax-and-spend’; tough on crime
2. Sociological – demise of working class
• Appeal to ‘Middle England’
3. International – globalisation
4. Ideological – socialism and fall of communism
Ideology: The Third Way (1)
• Anthony Giddens – sociologist, former director of
LSE: The Third Way (1998)
• ‘New Times’: social, economic, technological change
• No alternative to the market & globalisation
• Demise of class politics
• Constraints on the state
– But invest in education, infrastructure, communications to
compete in global economy (‘enabling state’)
• New social contract: rights and responsibilities
• Moving beyond ‘Left’ & ‘Right’: ‘radical centre’
Ideology: The Third Way (2)
• Ideological values
• Equality? Freedom? Fairness?
– ‘The reason for the changes we are making is not for their
own sake but because they are the means to the fairer
society, where aspiration and opportunity are open to all’ (T.
Blair, speech at LSE, 2002. My emphasis)
• Values: ‘… equal worth, opportunity for all, responsibility
and community’ (T. Blair, The Third Way, 1998)
• Criticisms
• Vague and incoherent – all things to all people?
• Too many concessions to neo-liberal economics?
– Or just latest form of social-democratic revisionism?
New Labour Versus Old Labour
NEW LABOUR
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Community
Consumers
Post-industrial economy
Equality of opportunity –
training and education
Welfare-to-work
Rights & responsibilities
‘Mixed economy’ in public
services
Market economy
Regulate private sector
OLD LABOUR
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Working class
Producers (unions)
Industrial economy
Equality of outcome –
redistribution
Welfarism
Social & welfare rights
State provision of public
services
Mixed economy
Nationalisation
Blair’s First Term in Govt, 1997-2001
• Cautious start 1997-99
• Bank of England independence
• Emphasis on sound economic management
• Constitutional changes
• Welfare reforms – ‘New Deal’
• Big spending increases in 2000
• Healthcare & education – but also tuition fees
• Foreign policy – pro-EU
Blair’s Second Term, 2001-05
• Dominated by foreign policy – 9/11, Iraq
• Domestic policy – big spending increases
and some tax increases
• But more emphasis on reform of public
services – marketisation, choice in
education and health (limits of the state)
• Foundation hospitals; university top-up fees
• Blair & Brown – conflicts over reforms
The Growth of the State
£bn
Govt expenditure (£bn)
Govt expenditure as % of GDP
550
%
43
42
500
41
450
40
400
39
38
350
37
300
36
1997- 1998- 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2006- 200798
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
Source: HM Treasury, 2004 Spending Review
Note: Expenditure in 2004-05 prices
Interpreting New Labour
1. New Labour’s Third Way: alternative to
neo-liberalism and old-style socialism
• Did policies reflect value of ‘fairness’?
2. New Labour as Thatcherism:
continuation of neo-liberalism
• Did policies reflect value of ‘freedom’?
3. New Labour as Old Labour: traditional
‘tax-and-spend’ socialist Govt
• Did values reflect value of ‘equality’?
Conclusion
• To what extent is New Labour a break with
the Labour tradition?
• What does New Labour see as the role of
the state?
• Key to understanding New Labour’s ideology
• Does New Labour have an ideological
vision of ‘the good society’?
• ‘The fair society’?
• Did New Labour’s policies on public services and
economy reflect values of the Third Way?