The British State: A Warning

by Chris Nineham

What happens if a radical government gets elected in Britain? How will the banks, the civil servants, the media and the military react? Is the idea of a British coup far-fetched? How can the left prepare? Chris Nineham addresses these questions by looking behind the myths at the reality of two hundred years of British state rule. He brings us a warning from history. Don't be fooled again, read this book.

Genres: Politics, History

144 pages, Paperback

Published October 25, 2019

Reviews

[Ell]

'The ruling class is deeply divided and seems unable to take society forward. The dominant economic project remains the financialised globalisation that has created the problems in the first place. In its decline, the ruling class appears to have forgotten many of the lessons that it learnt since it began to accomodate democracy in the second half of the nineteenth century. It appears less and less interested in making concessions, responding to popular concerns or maintaining the appearance of neutrality. The Blairites' enthusiastic embrace of the free market in the 1990s weakened Labour's traditional ability to channel discontent relatively safely through the institutions.'

It's honestly pretty wild that this book was written in 2019. Since then, the Tory party has completely destroyed itself through the mechanisms of Truss and Johnson; the government temporarily adopted Keynesian spending during the pandemic out of sheer necessity to prevent societal collapse, and has since spent the intervening four years pretending that didn't happen; and most importantly, the Labour Party has been completely institutionally captured in order to prevent a leftwinger from ever being elected to its leadership again. The coup was led by the Labour Right - including Morgan McSweeney, who is as evil as Dominic Cummings but less competent or personable - and ended in the coronation of Keir Starmer, a knight of the realm, former head of the CPS, member of the Trilateral Commission, and zealous defender of the interests of the state. It would be hard to find somebody who more perfectly personifies the state as Chris Nineham describes it here.

At the time of reading/reviewing, we are a year and a bit into Starmer's government and he has demonstrated the Labour Party's total capitulation to vested interests in the state and in big business. What is interesting about this is that Starmer's Labour has chosen these vested interests over its own electoral success. People on Left and Right recognise the need for fundamental change, even if the Right are misguided; consequently, Labour is headed for electoral oblivion. The centre cannot hold.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a mixed bag. On one hand Nineham produces a well researched history of the relationship between the hierarchy of the British State and the working classes (and their political representatives). On the other he occasionally lapses into a polemic about the need for a radical restructuring of the establishment for the benefit of society. Not a criticsm (the book is subtitled "A Warning", not "A History") but some of the step changes seem abrupt.

An interesting read, particularly for his positing that the British Deep State works to prolong entrenched establishment interests, but could have done with a little more length to make the case.