Taken as Red, Highs and Lows of the Labour Party, 1924-2019

By Richard Temple

This book comprises tales of the Labour Party in the hundred years since the first Labour government. It includes many dramatic episodes, not least the seething anger of the Glasgow rent strikes during the Great War, the looming danger of Hitler in the 1930s, and walkouts over equal pay in the 1960s. The book conjures up lost worlds which have profoundly influenced modern Britain. Above all, this book describes the ways in which the Labour Party has impacted on the lives of ordinary people. How does Labour measure up after a century of government and opposition? The book is accessible and challenges established narratives. It is also original. No-one else, for example, has written so specifically about the Labour Party and Nazi rearmament or about the Wilson government's response to the Beeching cuts. The text draws on a wide variety of sources, including the testimony of public figures such as John Betjeman, Richard Hoggart, Friedrich Engels, and George Orwell. Researched with scholarly rigour, this book will appeal to a wide audience.