Jeremy Corbyn and the Strange Rebirth of Labour England

by Mark Seddon, Francis Beckett

In Jeremy Corbyn and the Strange Rebirth of Labour England, Francis Beckett and Mark Seddon offer an alternative and refreshing take on the sad fate of Labour England over the past four decades. They then turn their attention to the extraordinary reversal of fortunes of the Corbyn years, and to what a new Labour England might look like – with or without Corbyn. In the event, Corbyn's Labour Party lost the 2020 election being rejected by even traditionally Labour areas of the country.

356 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2018

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

An account of UK Labour politics from the late Seventies until the present day under Jeremy Corbyn. This is not intended to be a neutral, distanced work by any means: the authors have been heavily involved in the party, and in left-wing politics, over the period which they narrate, and each one pops up within its pages from time to time.

Another 'character' which pops up is 'Labour England', described in the opening chapter as the dominant cultural and political consensus of the pre-Thatcher era:

Britain had never been more equal as a society; the gap between rich and poor, never as narrow … People were, by and large, happier. They were more secure … Labour England was fundamentally a decent place … There was a powerful attachment to a welfare state and health service that care for people from cradle to grave … It was adult education … It was universities where students received grants based upon their parental income and didn’t pay tuition fees … It was local libraries.

(pp. xi-xii)

Although they are describing a time before I was born, this felt familiar to me. 'Labour England' raises its head here and there throughout the narrative of changing political times - and, as the authors argue, is on the rise again.