The New Serfdom

by Angela Eagle, Imran Ahmed

Britain is one of the wealthiest, most successful nations in the world. Why, then, do so many people feel short-changed? The old assumption that 'if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get on in life' looks increasingly like a cruel joke. Homeownership, secure employment and fair wages seem like relics of a bygone era. Meanwhile exploitative workplace practices have created a new serfdom, leaving many people trapped in unfulfilling, underpaid work. At a time of huge political upheaval and ever-increasing inequality, this book asks how can we build a successful economy, powered by a happy and productive workforce that benefits everyone in the twenty-first century?

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Dame Angela Eagle DBE (b. 1961) is an English Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. She has served as Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs since 2025.

Eagle served as the Minister of State for Pensions and Ageing Society from June 2009 until May 2010. Eagle was elected to the Shadow Cabinet in October 2010 and was appointed by Ed Miliband to be Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

In October 2011, she was appointed Shadow Leader of the House of Commons when Miliband reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet. She was appointed as both Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in September 2015 in Jeremy Corbyn's first Shadow Cabinet. She resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in June 2016. Eagle announced a leadership challenge to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on 11 July 2016, but eight days later she withdrew leaving Owen Smith to challenge Corbyn for the leadership.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is one of the most disappointing reads I have had in a long time. The premise of the book, that there are fundamental problems with the structure of the UK economy, and that the divide between the ‘lovely and lousy’ jobs is widening in recent years due to forces such as technology and government austerity, is an issue that is important and needs addressed. It is also an issue which the UK Labour Party (which both authors are MPs for) likes to position themselves as the champions of, and so before reading this book I thought, who better to learn about these problems and their solutions than the party dedicated to them.

Unfortunately, as was the case in Labour’s election campaigns in 2017 and 2019 in the UK, there is a lot of rhetoric and criticism of current policy, without much detail on their proposed solutions. The general point of the book is this: that things are bad, and they must change. The problem with this however is that I already feel this to a certain extent, as I assume most people attracted to this book would too. In this respect, if you’re looking for a left-leaning political book to reinforce your political views then this book will give you exactly what you want. But this is not what political book should aim for, and as someone trying to widen my understand of politics and policy in the UK, this book is at times infuriating for this reason.

In particular, the authors have distinct dislike for the German political philosopher Freidrich Hayek, whose influential book from the 1940s ‘The Road to Serfdom’ inspires the title of this book. Early on they bring up his work and refer to it throughout. But the fact that his work isn’t quoted even once in the whole book I think speaks volumes of the authors intentions- they are simply building up a straw man argument against his whole ideology. However, Hayek’s ideology is perhaps the most influential ideology of the last century, and every government since the 1980s has been influenced by his work. Now, I don’t want to go into the pros/cons of what Hayek advocates, but I just want to point out that such a widespread and lauded ideology cannot be dismissed by straw-man arguments. People who believe in Hayek are not stupid, and everything in his philosophy cannot be without worth. You can disagree with a lot of what he says, but dismissing it as altogether wrong is nothing short of bigoted. In The New Serdom one gets the impression that neither of the authors have even read Hayek however, and that they take the view his ideology is so far fetched/wrong that is isn’t worth discussion, and this is they key problem with this book.

Coming away from this book I was on one level extremely frustrated by the lack of real content. On the other hand I was quite saddened that two relatively prominent figures in the Labour Party could produce this. The UK political system, as any political system, needs a plurality of views if it is to function properly. However, if the arguments found in The New Serdom are at all indicative of the level of debate currently going on in the Labour Party then the prospects of Labour regaining any electoral momentum seems, to me, bleak.

Overall perhaps this book is worth a read if just to get a feel for the current position of the Labour Party- i.e a glorified protest movement with no prospect of power until they mature in their analysis and arguments.

[Rob Nightingale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reluctant four. A very good breakdown and explanation of what the Labour party stands for in the 21st Century, but written from an - understandably - incredibly biased perspective. I recommend reading alongside a book with a more critical stance on Labour's policies for a more balanced understanding.