DOCSLIB.ORG

The Case for Lambeth Councillors

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Case for Lambeth Councillors I I 1 % rI - a-t- I ¡-¡---t zr I I - ---' AND LAMBETH COM M UN ITY CAM PAIGN A$E BETH OUilGILLON$ Defeat the surcharge RI ITITROIIUGTIOII BT Tnu GOURT SE ltRUIIT Thirty two Lambeth Labour Councillors will appear in court on 14 January 1986 charged with "wilful misconduct" for having delayed making a rate in Chair of Local Government lnformation Unit 1985. lf they cannot prove their innocence they will each face personal bankruptcy and disqualification from office for five years. The "alleged" crime The real crime What is the crime that these Councillors have The real crime in Lambeth has been committed by the committed? The District Auditor, an unelected state Government, not Labour Councillors. since 1979 has been official appointed by the Government, has alleged that Since 1979 the Government has taken away millions attack on democracy the ratepayers Lambeth lost money rate The Government's of because a in grants to which the Borough is entitled. These grants was not set until 3rd July '1985. relentless. are paid for by the taxes of Lambeth people. Normally a rate is made by a local Council in March or Lambeth has been forced to raise the rates because April of each year. Why did this not happen in Lambeth MrsThatcherinherdeterminatio-ntosilence.everyvoiceraised it has lost so much of its income from the Government, in 1985? ln 1984 the Government rate-capped at the same time the Council has demanded the return aoainsther,hasaiiäleauniols,"oi,,iiãundnow-evenbrandsthe Lambeth. This meant that the Council would be forced as' Marxist'' of the stolen money. ;;i,' oi Èngtand to make large cuts in jobs and services to meet imposed i;;; ln 1985 the Government tried to stop Lambeth and the new Local spending targets. have been abolished''r-ate'capped Councilfrom deciding how much it should spend by Councils them' Labour Councillors in Lambeth were elected to imposing rate-capping. seexs Þ gas defend jobs and services. They know from their own c;;;;;;;'t-B¡tt The Government has robbed, penalised and rate- experience that Lambeth is one of the most deprived to protect their the people of Lambeth to the tune of over 11 13 Lambeth hlY1attempted only Boroughs in the country. Lambeth has very high levels capped The Councittors in That is their million. ãonts;equencerâïînãttn"rism' of unemployment, rising by over 250% in 6 years. community rrominá Lambeth has a terrible and worsening housing crisis. cnme. Thousands upon thousands of ordinary Lambeth of local citizens exist on meagre welfare benefits. The Labour poticy'of the Labour'f'"'t!and have supported the Councillors could not impose cuts in such difficult They òuí turn to support them' government unoÅi''iit"Åófr circumstances. lt was clear that the borough required O Celebrities meet Lambeth Councillors a body more resources not less to cope with increasing needs. to launch lhe Lambeth Fighting Fund. and to f ait be to 'woutd with For Lambeth Councitlors ?""u??ndonedàttto9 easv'ror those t,t1'12'tü6" e t i ev e t e v a n t' t b btow to rr" tuoo'lÏ'iå'""'ï'l' ø ø r e t n ¡t 9 o å''iå aü i oy,, 1o' ! s e t e ct i v e' ",i 1î'ì'á21 weshoutd'"'"'Ëàîlnáico'n"itt;it";';;a'¡lqiion2eshared"' " Lambeth'spositiåî7'tøiåîà¡'pofwitt 't'qry";E#:::i::::?'2"'#ål;^7Li' ha sr;;";';;ñøers ot councits their case. al'l'|hose who care importantjo and I The fate of Lambeth's Ç9u7c-i!?:t^it nat¡onal importance fuøtic serv.i.ce;. ä'iãá't about democracy-aln'a rcat it as such' hope we witt at 'åä'õ"iò 'AM i{'f",H'5"*":i[îÍ5s'"J'å'1'3!l3iL''" "..åË:îi#f LAMBETH 'Fìghting fund 3 Who are the accused? Why the aPPeal Some are The case to answer men and One or two are full time Councillors. Councillors are ordinary . The thirtv two Labour Some have jobs and f amifies' They are all must succeed Thev all live in the,Borough and unãmptoveO. Labour Counctllors said it was reasonable to delay ilå=mä;ä,îiutuËt. aUout one thing. rney know that they took the problems' They stood for the ððÀtiO'ení ãiãt". They did so in order to try and persuade councillors must go to court to prove thetr i;;y äo; its acute in delaying making a rate and fighting for rãr.iÃg Labour appálling economic and ¡ãnt ããcision to change its mind about how much Council in order to lmprove the for the people of Lambeth' if'ð öo"uãrnrent innocence. experienced every r-or" t".outces Lambeth's growing problems' J*iäiåé.Jitions wrr¡ðrrthey saw and was needed to solve Thev know that they have the majority support of the be day. for They asked that some of the lost 11 13 million o"oóid oi Lãmbeth in this campaign for a better deal the needs UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT' in Lambeth come from a wide local by- returñéO to the Council. They knew best what THEY ARE GUILTY Labour Councillors ir," ã"tótõÀ. This has been demonstrated in quite working people and represent many and of the Borough were. They believed that the The onus is unfairly on them to justify the cross-iect¡on of äiã.t¡ónt.irley have the support of the communrty these acted and .oð¡ät ttäo¡tions' women and black be reaêonable and recognise r"o¡tirnãtã decisionä they took. fhey believed they ãìriãi""i ðrrtural of the Council' öo"ãtñt""t"tigr't both in numbers and in their the workforce needs too. ñil b";t i;teiests of tñe ratepalers arìd people of Ë;îË fäiåiiéniri."ntlv part an responsibilities' They even asked the Government to take in Lambeth. but this inOepãnáent inquiry to establish the true facts was turned down. date for IS VITAL THAT THEY WIN THEIR CASE. WHY? exPre ss their democrat¡c The Government is now planning a specific IT They deserve to win and to thts was not the f ighting for their personal il-re lãtt.g ót à rate. However in 1985 Labour councillors are not only it to be quite possibly their intent on destroy¡ng ð"ið. Lu'io"th Labour Councillors believed .rr¡"ãf . they have much t'o lose: oppos¡tion to a Govern ment in order to on certainly their positions as f to delay rate making ñót"t and liveiihoods, SOqly-Oressurepeople of right to stand nd for. thË"gáf Government, to get riore money for the ãt".t"O councillors uná theit democratic everythin they sta each and Lambeth. toi ófi¡.". They face a surcharge of Ê4000 way from office for five years' The Labour Councillors had no control over the disqualification fails! certáin Government departments withheld essential But much more will be lost if their appeal was not made' on subsidres and rates while a rate Much of the future of local government depends non- in the The District Auditor based his allegations on the ilr¡i ðóurt case. The consequences for councils p"VÅ"ntãithese subsidies and rates' lt is still not clear i"tt ór iÀ" .ountry will be profound Local councillors withhold of whether Government departments can tegally Wi Oã int¡miOateá into obeying the dictatorship the Government these å"nttár Oóu"tnment' lf theystãnd up to PaYments' they will be ,n oiOãtio O"fend the peopte they represe-nt äiil úã"Oed law breakers or, like the GLC and métiopotitan"t councils be abolished altogether' lf Labour Councillors in Lambeth lose, then central power Covãinment wrll have dramatically increased its over the lives of ordinarY PeoPle' However, if they win a great victory wrll have been t ordinary u.'f,iãu"O tor tocaidemociacy and the right of local councillors' óáôpf" to control and elect their I DESERVE SUPPORT THESE COUNCILLORS t \rt J J HotJ9tt6 ! z ot- OH H0Ñ o toò¡ 9 \ ô LAMBETH fignting fund 5 4 TnuG0uilGrrr0ns I FTTES O Janet Boateng, is a busy mother of four, who has represented Oval Ward since May 1 982. At Lambeth she is Chair of Social Services and she is also a member of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities' Social Services O Sharon Atkin, 34, is a full time Councillor who has represented Town Committee. Outside the Town Hall she is active in the Anti-Apartheid Hall Ward since 1984. She is married with a 16 year old son Neil. As well as Movement, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the ACER Project. being Chair of Amenity Services and Vice-Chair of the Police Committee joined poverty within the Council she is also Chair of the Alcoholic Counselling Service and She the Council to try and alleviate hardship and in the Chair of the National Labour Party Black Section. Borough and is particularly concerned to represent the interests of black people. lf she is disqualified this right will be denied her. She stood as a Councillor to serve those in the community who are unable to speak for themselves and to improve the quality of life for the people of tF Lambeth both socially and economically. l-' ,r't I Of the surcharge threat she says "As a full time Councillor my income has .#' been halved, if we lose the case I would therefore be bankrupted and probably lose my home". u O B¡ll Bowring, 36, has been a barrister sinc e 1974 and a Councillor for O Des Atkinson, 29, is a computer analyst/programmer who was Angell Ward since 1978.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • From Delors to Guterres
    3Holland_Template.qxd 13/09/2018 14:05 Page 7 7 From Delors For progressive economists Dani Rodrik is on the side of the angels. His Has to Guterres Globalization Gone Too Far? (1997) was Europe from prophetic. His insights into how the World Trade Organization not only has the Left institutionalised the postwar General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, but has also been intrusive in insisting on rules concerning how governments should Stuart Holland manage their economies, have been significant. As has been his recognition that recent trade agreements have served vested interests rather than benefited peoples. While his more recent outspoken claim that globalisation has been “tearing societies apart” (Rodrik, 2018) rightly has resonated. It therefore is remarkable that his claim that, since the early 1980s, there was an intellectual abdication of the European Left (Rodrik, 2016) is a travesty of both people and recent history. As has been the claim of Sheri Berman (2017) that, since the 1970s, European “social democrats lacked well thought out plans for getting economies moving again or for using the democratic state to protect citizens from the changes brought by ever­evolving capitalism”. Both, and especially Dani, deserve a response. Thus in his Abdication of the Left Dani Stuart Holland’s long submits that: engagement in European economics and politics “The enthroning of free capital mobility … began in the 1960s. He is was spearheaded in the late 1980s and early a Visiting Professor in the 1990s not by free­market ideologues, but by Faculty of Economics of French technocrats such as Jacques Delors at the University of Coimbra the European Commission who was closely associated with the Socialist Party in and a Senior Research France.” Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies Köszeg.
    [Show full text]
  • The US New Deal and Resolving the Eurozone Crisis
    The US New Deal and Resolving the Eurozone Crisis Without the debt buy-outs or national guarantees or fiscal transfers Stuart Holland * 1. Executive Summary 2. The New Deal and Europe Now 3. Eurozone Stabilisation by Debt Conversion 4. Not Binding Germany – Enhanced Cooperation 5. European Recovery by Eurobonds 6. US and Global Implications * Stuart Holland formerly was a Member of the House of Commons and Shadow Financial Secretary to the UK Treasury. In his twenties he was personal adviser on European affairs to Harold Wilson, and gained the consent of Charles De Gaulle to the 2 nd British application to join the EEC. He proposed the case for a New Messina Conference which was endorsed by Andreas Papandreou and François Mitterrand and led to the commitment to economic and social cohesion in the first revision of the Rome Treaty in the 1986 Single European Act. He proposed Union Bonds and a European Investment Fund in a 1993 report to Jacques Delors. As an adviser to António Guterres he recommended that the terms of reference of the European Investment Bank should include investments in health, education, urban renewal and environment, as well as green technology and innovation which has enabled the EIB to quadruple its total borrowing and investments since 1997 and to offer the potential to fulfil the aspirations of the EU for a European Economic Recovery Programme. 2 1. Executive Summary One of the reasons for the failure of European heads of state and of government to resolve the Eurozone crisis is German resistance to debt buy-outs, national guarantees and fiscal transfers between member states.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Austerity
    Imposed cover:Layout 1 16/03/2016 11:03 Page 1 BEYOND AUSTERITY Beyond Austerity argues that the European Union already has the means to finance the equivalent of the Roosevelt BEYOND New Deal, which saved the US from Depression in the 1930s, without needing either fiscal federalism or ‘ever AUSTERITY closer union’. This is highly relevant to the referendum on British membership of the EU. How can Europe’s economic recovery be accomplished? The European Investment Bank Democratic Alternatives and the European Investment Fund can issue Eurobonds that for do not count on the debt of EU member states, nor need national guarantees, nor require fiscal transfers between Europe Germany and Greece or any other countries. Heads of state and government in the European Council have the right to define ‘general economic policies’ that the European Central Bank is obliged to support. The European Commission has by displaced this important capacity, although the structure for European recovery was carefully assembled by Jacques Delors, its former President, in conjunction with the author S STUART HOLLAND during the 1990s. Another Europe is possible. Who will TUART make the first move beyond austerity and start to put Europe back to work? H OLLAND £8.95 SPOKESMAN www.spokesmanbooks.com Holland Book:Layout 1 16/03/2016 09:02 Page 1 ???????????? 1 Beyond Austerity – Democratic Alternatives for Europe Stuart Holland SPOKESMAN Holland Book:Layout 1 16/03/2016 09:02 Page 2 2 ???????????? First published in 2016 by Spokesman Russell House Bulwell Lane Nottingham NG6 0BT England Phone 0115 9708318 Fax 0115 9420433 www.spokesmanbooks.com Copyright © Stuart Holland All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Union Bonds, Eurobonds and a New Deal for Europe
    Union Bonds, Eurobonds and a New Deal for Europe Stuart Holland Introduction 1. The Bruegel Proposal 2. A Ring Fenced Bond Conversion 3. Sustainable and Unsustainable Debt 4. Who Should Hold Union Bonds 5. Issuing Eurobonds for Recovery 6. Both Stability and Growth 7. Global Implications 8. An Agenda for the G20 Stuart Holland formerly was a Member of the House of Commons and Shadow Minister for Development Cooperation, when he worked closely with Willy Brandt, then Shadow Financial Secretary to the UK Treasury. In his twenties he was personal adviser on European affairs to Harold Wilson, and gained the consent of Charles De Gaulle to the 2nd British application to join the EEC. He proposed the case for a New Messina Conference which was endorsed by Andreas Papandreou and François Mitterrand and led to the commitment to economic and social cohesion of the Single European Act. He proposed Union Bonds and a European Investment Fund in a 1993 report to Jacques Delors. As an adviser to António Guterres he recommended that the terms of reference of the European Investment Bank should include investments in health, education, urban renewal and environment, as well as green technology and innovation which enabled the EIB to fulfil its Lisbon 2000 cohesion and convergence remit and its successful i2i and Innovation 2010 initiatives. [email protected] 2 Introduction Union Bonds or Eurobonds have hit headlines since the case for them in an article in The Financial Times in December by Jean-Claude Juncker and Giulio Tremonti.1 But there is resistance to debt buy-outs, national guarantees and fiscal transfers between member states.
    [Show full text]
  • Stuart Holland1 Implications of European Integration
    Stuart Holland1 Implications of European Integration for Latin American Economic Union This paper is offered in the context of increased interest in regional cooperation in Latin America. It was stimulated by the stated aim of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to create a Latin American economic union, including a single currency, and his claim in July 2003 that “The social and political conditions now are in place to launch a sustainable cycle of development. That will require the enlargement of the internal market, particularly for mass consumer goods, by integrating into it millions of excluded citizens”.2 This aim clearly is ambitious. It is more than simply extending Mercosul. It focuses on offsetting economic and social exclusion – an aim adopted by the European Project only thirty years after its initial design for a common market – and focuses on demand creation through redistribution rather than only integration of different national markets – something still only implicit in a range of EU policies. Its politics also are ambitious, not least granted that the postwar construction of Europe, from Marshall Aid and OEEC onwards, was directly supported by the then US administration, while it is less clear that a Latin American union and single currency now would be so. In view of this it may be relevant to consider the experience – not all straightforward – of the creation of the European Economic Community and its transition to the European Union. The fact that the EU has adopted economic and social cohesion as the ‘twin pillar’ of 1 Stuart Holland was formerly a member of the British Parliament and Shadow Minister of Development Cooperation.
    [Show full text]
  • Neo-Liberal Thought and Thatcherism Robert Mark Ledger
    Robert Ledger Neo‐liberal Thought and Thatcherism ‘A Transition From Here to There?’ Neo-liberal Thought and Thatcherism Robert Mark Ledger Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 Robert Ledger Neo‐liberal Thought and Thatcherism Abstract This PhD thesis asks how ‘neo-liberal’ was the Thatcher government? Existing accounts tend to characterise neo-liberalism as a homogeneous, and often ill-defined, group of thinkers that exerted a broad influence over the Thatcher government. This thesis - through a combination of archival research, interviews and examination of ideological texts - defines the dominant strains of neo-liberalism more clearly and explores their relationship with Thatcherism. In particular, the schools of liberal economic thought founded in Vienna and Chicago are examined and juxtaposed with the initial neo-liberals originating from Freiburg in 1930s and 1940s Germany. Economic policy and deregulation were the areas that most clearly linked neo-liberal thinking with Thatcherism, but this thesis looks at a broad cross section of the wider programme of the Thatcher government. This includes other domestic policies such as education and housing, as well as the Thatcher government’s success in reducing or altering the pressures exerted by vested interests such as the trade unions and monopolies. Lastly, while less associated with neo-liberal theory, foreign policy, in the area of overseas aid, is examined to show how ideas filtered into the international arena during the 1980s. Although clearly a political project, the policies of Thatcherism, in so far as they were ideological, resonate most with the more expedient, or practical, Friedmanite strain of neo-liberalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Implications of the Euro: a Crtical Perspective from the Left
    Implications of the Euro To date, critical analysis of the Economic and Monetary Union project has largely been advanced from the centre-right spectrum of British politics. Comparable questioning from the centre-left, whilst once a powerful phenomenon, has more recently failed to find a coherent voice. Yet the European fault-line cannot be characterised as a neat left–right issue. There are noticeable divisions in opinion across British business, the trade union movement and within the Labour Party. Implications of the Euro offers a unique insight into this key debate from the ‘centre- left’, eurosceptic viewpoint. This book provides a rigorous analysis of the salient economic and political issues of concern, such as: the economics of a single currency, employment and social implications, in addition to issues of sovereignty and political determination. The arguments presented in this volume highlight the emergence of a coherent alternative to deepening economic integration as a platform to build a just and equitable society. Contributions are drawn from leading academics, trade union leaders and prominent politicians, both from the Labour Party and the wider progressive left in British politics. This informative and thought provoking book will be indispensable reading for students and practitioners in economics, politics and international relations, as well as those interested in this highly contentious topic. Philip Whyman is Reader in Economics at the University of Central Lancashire. Mark Baimbridge and Brian Burkitt are Senior Lecturers
    [Show full text]
  • The Origins and History of the Special Adviser, with Particular Reference to the 1964-70 Wilson Administrations
    The origins and history of the special adviser, with particular reference to the 1964-70 Wilson Administrations. Blick, Andrew The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author For additional information about this publication click this link. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1397 Information about this research object was correct at the time of download; we occasionally make corrections to records, please therefore check the published record when citing. For more information contact [email protected] Title: The origins and history of the special adviser, with particular reference to the 1964-70 Wilson Administrations Name of candidate: Andrew Buck College: Queen Mary College, University of London Degree: PhD flzo2 ED%. biJY. Abstract of thesis: Special advisers are temporary civil servants, of party political alignment, appointed on a basis of individual ministerial patronage. Particularly since 1997, there has been much interest in their activities. This work sets out to provide a historical perspective on the subject, which is currently lacking. The long-tenn background to the instigation of the special adviser and the circumstances in which this innovation took place will be discussed. The central focus of this work is upon the period 1964-70, during which, it will be argued, special advisers, as they are now conceived, were first used. Full consideration is given to the subjects of who special advisers were, what they did and why, as well as how they functioned. Their official positions, in terms of matters such as job titles, pay, access to information and rules governing their conduct, will be investigated.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring Political Change Thatcherism and the Remaking of the Labour Party 1979-1997
    EXPLORING POLITICAL CHANGE THATCHERISM AND THE REMAKING OF THE LABOUR PARTY 1979-1997 RICHARD HEFFERNAN P hD THESIS LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON UMI Number: U61BB65 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U613365 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ~L Z £ ^Saujouoog Abstract. The politics of Thatcherism reflects a political and economic project rooted in the ideology of the New Right. While subject to the interplay of opportunity and circumstance, chance and fortune, the Thatcher and Major governments of 1979-1997 did pursue and largely enact a coherent political agenda. Thatcherism is best understood as a process enacted over time. At its very heart was an anti-statist commitment to roll back the frontiers not of the state per se but of the pre­ existing ‘social democratic’ state. As a project simultaneously informed by an ideological doctrine and constrained by the dictates of statecraft, Thatcherism was an agent of political change, one which reconfigurated state and society at the same time it was responsive to political realities and electoral pressures.
    [Show full text]
  • Chris Mullin Was the Labour MP for Sunderland South from 1987 Until 2010
    Chris Mullin was the Labour MP for Sunderland South from 1987 until 2010. He was for four years chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee and served as a minister in three departments. He is the author of three widely praised volumes of diaries, A View From the Foothills, Decline and Fall and A Walk-On Part, the memoir Hinterland and three novels, including A Very British Coup, which was turned into a BAFTA-winning television series. Praise for A Very British Coup ‘Preposterous’ Daily Telegraph ‘Rattling good’ London Review of Books ‘A curious Molotov cocktail’ Financial Times ‘A spiffing read’ People Praise for A Walk-On Part 1994–1999 ‘Perceptive, witty, humane, indignant and self-lacerating by turn, Mullin has the qualities of all enduring diarists’ Guardian ‘His acerbic wit, independence of mind and self-deprecating honesty have proved a refreshing antidote to the spin that marked life under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’ Financial Times ‘He will join Alan Clark in the pantheon of truly great diarists’ Matthew d’Ancona, Evening Standard ‘A treat to be savoured. What’s more they are written by a creature that the public does not believe exists: an honest politician at Westminster’ Oona King, The Times Very British Coup.indd 1 02/11/2017 17:46 Praise for A View From the Foothills 1999–2005 ‘By far the most revealing and entertaining [diary] to have emerged from the now-dying era of New Labour… a diary that tells us as much about British politics as that great television series Yes Minister’ Economist ‘Every once in a while, political diaries emerge that are so irrever ent and insightful that they are destined to be handed out as leaving presents in offices in Whitehall for years to come.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Forward March Halted
    Notes 1 The Forward March Halted 1. ‘The choice Labour faces: learn, or die’ (New Statesman, Editorial, 11.5.79). 2. Hall (1989), p. 3. 3. See Artis and Cobham (1991) for a balanced assessment of the record of the 1974–79 government. Brivati (in Brivati and Bale ed., 1997) describes the IMF episode as a ‘defining crisis’ (p. 190) for Labour. Ormerod (in Artis and Cobham ed., 1991) states that the ‘winter of discontent’ ‘did enormous damage to Labour’s political image’ (p. 71). John O’Farrell (1998), p. 14 makes this point rather more humorously. 4. See Singh (1977) and Blackaby (1978) on deindustrialisation; Bacon and Eltis (1978) on why Britain had ‘too few producers’; and Jenkins (1995) for a collection of journalism on British decline. 5. Whiteley (1983). 6. Most famously in Callaghan’s speech at the 1976 Labour Party Conference where he argued that ‘we used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and boost employment by cutting taxation and boosting public expenditure. I tell you in all candour that this option no longer exists and insofar as it did ever exist, it injected a higher dose of inflation’ (Labour Party Conference Report, 1976). Healey stopped considering him- self a Keynesian as early as 1975 (Healey, 1989). 7. Marquand in Mackintosh (1982), p. 22. 8. Ibid., p. 14. 9. Fielding (1995), p. 30. Kinnock, however, seemed to accept the dealignment thesis (p. 75). 10. In April 1992, the Conservatives led Labour as the party best equipped to deal with the country’s economic problems by 52 per cent to 31 per cent.
    [Show full text]
  • Afterword: Corbyn---A Socialist Rebirth?
    Afterword: Corbyn---A Socialist Rebirth? At the time of writing, Labour is led by Jeremy Corbyn, a Labour-left figure who did not join Blair, unexpectedly elected as leader in 2015 in a leadership contest otherwise comprising ‘Blairites’ and former New Labour Ministers, i.e. figures associated with the ‘post-left’ project discussed in the chapter above. Encouraged by Labour’s strong (albeit second-place) per- formance in the 2017 general election, numerous figures on the left have interpreted ‘Corbynism’ as representing something of a socialist revival in British politics, as a break with a previously dominant New Labour ‘neo- liberalism’, a re-emergence of class politics and Labour as a mass party, and evidence of the broad popularity of ‘traditional’ Labour-left policies for public ownership, wealth redistribution and workers’ participation in eco- nomic ownership and workplace decision-making.1 To what extent, there- fore, does the emergence of ‘Corbynism’ challenge this book’s assertion of a ‘death of British socialism’ upon the demise of the AES in the 1980s? Is Corbyn’s rise evidence that socialist politics is again a major force in British politics? AES Parallels Insofar as Corbyn, often called Tony Benn’s protégé, has looked to the policy repertoire of Labour-left tradition, his attempts to forge a political platform credibly distinct from New Labour have to an extent involved a © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under 207 exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 B. Tufekci, The Socialist Ideas of the British Left’s Alternative Economic Strategy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34998-1 208 AFTERWORD: CORBYN—A SOCIALIST REBIRTH? reiteration of some of the old AES themes.
    [Show full text]