Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour's Lost England

by Sebastian Payne

Broken Heartlands is an essential and compelling political road-trip through ten constituencies that tell the story of Labour’s red wall from Sebastian Payne – an award-winning journalist and Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times .

'Impressive and entertaining' - Sunday Times
' Immensely readable' - Observer

Historically, the red wall formed the backbone of Labour’s vote in the Midlands and the North of England but, during the 2019 general election, it dramatically turned Conservative for the first time in living memory, redrawing the electoral map in the process.

Originally from the North East himself, Payne sets out to uncover the real story behind the red wall and what turned these seats blue. Beginning in Blyth Valley in the North East and ending in Burnley, with visits to constituencies across the Midlands and Yorkshire along the way, Payne gets to the heart of a key political story of our time that will have ramifications for years to come.

While Brexit and the unpopularity of opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn are factors, there is a more nuanced story explored in Broken Heartlands – of how these northern communities have fared through generational shifts, struggling public services, de-industrialization and the changing nature of work. Featuring interviews with local people, plus major political figures from both parties – including Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer – Payne explores the significant role these social and economic forces, decades in the making, have played in this fundamental upheaval of the British political landscape.

'A must-read for anyone who wants to understand England today' - Robert Peston

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Society, History, Education, Current Affairs, Travel

432 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2021

Reviews

[Geevee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sebastian Payne's book is interesting and intriguing in both the conversations he has and the conclusions he draws from his tour of first time Conservative Red Wall seats*.

He set out in 2020 to understand the change following the 2019 general election, which was of an unexpected and unseen magnitude, giving Labour its worst election result since the mid-1930s and the Conservatives a thumping 80 seat majority in parliament.

His tour, in his Mini, sees him criss-cross constituencies and areas and directly engage with voters, MPs past and present, city mayors and others such as so-called heavyweight politicians of the three main parties: Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat.

The conversations are well described and often take place in pubs, cafés, shopping centres and people's homes. They are a variety of people from traditional Labour voters - or their family has always voted Labour - to others who have voted Conservative more regularly. In the discussions there are themes: Brexit (these areas were heavily supportive of Leave the EU); a fear and intense dislike of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbin and his policies and beliefs (notably his stance on defence, support for Hamas & the IRA); Labour no longer representing its traditional vote (cited as a woke metropolitan elite); and changes in work and wealth where people no longer work in heavy industry that is inherently manual labour and unionised.

Mr Payne explores the rationale to these and how education, opportunity, new industries and skills and the old and new MPs interact(ed). These produce a mix of opinions but ostensibly the points above standout and give the key to why Labour lost these seats. There is also discussion on what Labour can do to win back and how hard this will/may be based on variables such as investment, taxation, job prospects, the personality of Boris Johnson (Conservative) and Sir Kier Starmer (Labour). This latter part is very well covered with interviews with the aforementioned plus others such as Tony Blair, Angela Rayner, Dominic Raab, David Lammy, Andy Burnham, Caroline Flint, Natascha Engle, Alan Johnson, Ed Miliband, Melanie Onn, Sir Ed Davey, Lords Tebbit and Heseltine and more.

There is in my copy an epilogue where Mr Payne travels down to Esher and Walton. Not a red wall seat but one of the wealthiest constituencies in the land sitting just a few miles outside London. Always a traditional Conservative seat (Dominic Raab is the sitting MP) it saw his majority cut from some 23k in 2017 to just 2.3k in 2019 as the Lib-Dems chipped heavily away. Again, there are interviews with the Lib-Dem candidate and also Rabb. It makes for interesting reading when adding to the wider story.

Overall though, and given the shambles of the recent Conservative leadership election with Johnson's departure - a big reason people voted Conservative in red wall seats - Truss's six weeks' long premiership and now under with the party under Rishi Sunak, and remaining doubts about Labour's true ideas, policies and stance (Starmer, Rayner, Lammy, Thornberry were all enthusiastic Corbyn supporters), plus the cost of living crisis, forthcoming tax rises and public spending cuts and the illegal boat migrants and Northern Ireland Protocol to mention a few, I do wonder if people will bother to vote at all at the next general election in 2023 or 2024.
Why? Well as the people in the book said of Labour, and it is the same for many in relation to the Conservatives, why bother when they never listen to us and keep fighting amongst themselves.

Overall, I enjoyed the book very much. What was said by the people in the once Red Wall and indeed the Esher & Walton constituency resonated with me on both Labour and Conservative approaches to government and how they treat their voters. The style is fluid, easy to read and provides good context and balance - note Mr Payne himself, the FT's political journalist, is from a red wall constituency featured in this book.

If you have an interest in British/English politics and how the political map turned less red and bluer in 2019, then you will enjoy this book.

My copy was 2022 paperback edition published by Pan.

* A red wall seat is a traditionally held Labour party seat that turned Conservative (Blue) in 2017 (4 in number) and 2019 (31) breaking with years of voting tradition - many having been Labour for decades. These seats tend to be in traditional manufacturing/mining constituencies of England, notably for this book and the seats noted above in the North-East, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Midlands.

[Derwin Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read if taken as a travelogue of Red Wall seats in a period where politics was frozen in aspic during the pandemic. Unfortunately it's content is reporting the same story 10 times and light on any analysis that isn't repeating what's been told to the author by the new Tory MP or pensioner they just spoke to.

Unfortunately every trip seems to take the same model of:

{Red Wall Seat} is a rainy town. Despite it's troubles it has a unique sense of community. The inhabitants of this seat are proud of their history. They enjoy a fierce rivalry with the next town over who they consider to be completely alien to them.

Labour is seen as having fallen out of touch because of [Brexit|Corbyn|London].

The new Tory MP is proud to be this seats MP and promises to make a difference for this seat by speaking well of it in parliament (presumably the previous Labour MP did nothing but slag it off).

This seat has suffered from a lot of deprivation and social challenges so I've interviewed a comfortable off retiree who works as a church volunteer to understand this more. (I don't think any one under 50 who isn't an MP features at all in this book.)

These voters have broken with Labour and are not tied to the party anymore. But as they have voted Tory once the seats will probably stay blue for a 100 years.

In conclusion the Red Wall is a land of contrasts. Also we should abolish the House of Lords.

The end.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A year is a very long time in politics. Sebastian Payne’s journey around ten ‘Red Wall’ constituencies in an attempt to understand the electoral earthquake that shook British politics in the December 2019 general election took place in 2021, and the paperback edition of Broken Heartlands with a new chapter on the ‘Blue Wall’ seats of southern England was published early in 2022, but already (September 2022) the world has changed. Boris Johnson, the central figure in Payne’s story is no longer Prime Minister, and his successor is as yet untried. What that means for the next election is anyone’s guess. Broken Heartlands is a thorough and exhaustive survey of seats across the north of England and the Midlands, but, ultimately, his thesis is simple and comes down to four things: long-term changes in the economic make up of the communities in previously solid Labour constituencies, Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn and the unique electoral appeal of Boris Johnson.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author's own political views shine through too clearly in this analysis to make it of really useful value - working class boy come good and hatred of Corbyn and his collegues.

I'll be honest I'm not a Labour (especially Corbyn!) fan but read this book as it covered the constituency where I live and Labour were ousted (Don Valley) in one of the Red Wall seats, and was astounded when he got some of the local details wrong - nothing major admittedly but you would assume an FT journalist to ensure their facts were correct.

Overall a book which starts to scratch at the surface of Labour's loss but doesn't really analyse it in sufficient detail for it to be anything more than top-level. Finally, the authors sometimes patronising views about small towns, villages and their inhabitants starts to grate after a while - he's definitely become part of the metropolitan elite despite his working class roots.

[Jacob Stelling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great account of the collapse of the Red Wall and shows just how deep Labour’s structural problems lie, and how Johnson’s victory can’t just be reduced to Corbyn or Brexit.

Much of the book was published before partygate/lobbying/sex scandals and before Johnson was forced out of office, and as such the picture for Labour comes across as a lot more bleak than the polls suggest now. However that is not to say that the problems in this book can be rectified in 5 years – it’s all to play for.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book during the middle weeks of the 2024 UK general election campaign. This is significant because the book is about the outcome of the previous (2019) election and particularly the so called ‘Red Wall’ seats, which switched from Labour to Conservative in very large numbers, securing Boris Johnson’s large majority in the House of Commons.
2019 seems a long time ago to me and the central thesis of this book will soon be tested, possibly to destruction. Payne explores the idea that the Red Wall seats fell to the Tories in part because of Brexit (‘get Brexit done’), partly because of Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity and perceived lack of patriotism, and partly because so many people warmed to Boris as a refreshingly different politician (‘Boosterism’). He also argues that labour had long taken for granted the support of many Red Wall seats, which unnoticed to them were changing fast – no longer dependent on traditional heavy industries and with strong sense of community, but with many more middle-class people, leading lives that were much more aspirational and individual. In other words, the so-called Red Wall seats had, over the years, been changing rapidly.
Payne develops his ideas by visiting many Red Wall seats and interviewing current and past MP’s and many others. Most seem to agree it will be difficult Labour to reclaim the lost seats with the road back to government commensurately more difficult.
The idea that the collapse of the Red Wall represents a seismic shift and permanent realignment for the fortunes of both Labour and Conservatives will be severely tested at the general election two weeks today.
An interesting read. I suspect there will be plenty of books written reflecting on the outcome of the 2024 election.

[Jake Goretzki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, topical walk through of the fallen 'Red Wall' constituencies and how, over the years, the Labour Party lost its hold. Brexit and Corbyn aside (those will recede as issues), lots of useful pointers on what creates traction - and a reminder that a lot of that involves looking forward (with some optimism and verve) and less 'everything is shit and you're all horrible' / miner cosplay / one-size-fits-all stereotyping.

I try to keep away from UK party politics these days, but it's a pretty good extended feature on 'The State of the Nation'. Good to see those references to Priestley's 'English Journey' too. It'll date amazingly quickly, but it's a good primer on the here and now and 'what people want from politics'.

[Nazza Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

my first book of 2022, progress beyond last's year April 2021 start, I am proud of me, now for the book! I'd been looking forward to this, a political story about the Red Wall in the North of England and Midlands where Labour lost heavy ground and their traditional seats to Boris Johnson's Conservative Party in the 2019 General Election. The central thrust of the book is great, going beyond Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn as the two obvious factors as to why the Red Wall crumbled to the Conservatives and looking more at the structural changes and consequences of deindustrialisation in some of the constituencies like Burnley and Blyth Valley who felt abandoned by Labour and wanted change. I also appreciated looking at these places holistically through time rather than as a single snapshot in 2019. It's quite depressing if you're of the left though, the book left me feeling sad at how Labour can reconnect with people who voted Conservative for the first time in their life, it's quite clear they probably will again in the next election. It did though excellently highlight that these places are now in the political consciousness of those in Westminster and are therefore deserving of more investment and thought, it's up to Labour now to chart that path and not take these places for granted as they did in the past but HOW is the question, I ain't got a clue. I enjoyed the various vox pops from random people and interviews with politicians, normally they're a bit boring but in this case were quite insightful. I thought the book rightly looked at the factor of ethnicity as to why some Red Wall seats remained Labour albeit marginally in the example of Coventry North West but didn't at all mention age? A lot of young people vote Labour and I'm not just talking students but under 40's who outstrip the Tory vote. It would have been interesting to listen to some young people reflect on their constituencies and potential political future

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I essentially treated the audiobook version as an extended edition of Payne's FT Politics podcast, which I have enjoyed for a few years. I was pleasantly surprised by the range of interviews of both Labour and Conservative politicians which were insightful, even if some of the key conclusions are already a little out of date since a year ago with the end of Johnson's premiership. Topics included deindustrialization, high streets, regional devolution, decentralisation of government, inequalities of opportunity, and so on. Each place was interesting and there is some recognition that there are former Labour heartlands with increasingly affluent areas, where the Conservatives are finding it easier to break through. These trends will, in all likelihood, be accelerated by constituency boundary changes in the next election.

Interviews of members of the general public tended to focus on voters who are either long-term Conservative voters, former or current UKIP/Brexit supporters, or those voting Conservative for the first time. It would however have been nice to be a bit more representative/academic in selecting who to interview, including younger voters and reflections from Labour voters on what may have gone wrong in 2019. This would bring the book further away from a television/radio 'vox pop' approach where those interviewed aren't working or studying on a typical 9-5 weekday.

I wouldn't expect a particularly sympathetic account of Corbyn's leadership in this respect, and you will find a better account of this in the excellent 'The Prime Ministers We Never Had', which recognises Corbyn going very far in 2016 to put aside his Eurosceptic instincts to campaign for remain, and how he would probably much prefer the backbenches and tending to his allotment. There also were the undeniable problems with Anti-Semitism and his leadership team, and his incorrect call to give Russia the benefit of the doubt during the Salisbury poisoning, which alienated the general public. Both factors are focused on in this book, in addition to the leadership's position on Brexit after the 2017 election. Many Labour politicians regretted not backing Theresa May's Brexit deal, probably the least worst option which could get through parliament in retrospect.

Despite following politics closely over the past two years, this extended account was still welcome and I enjoyed the interviews with Labour politicians the most for their reflections on the task ahead.

[Tommy K · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[GEORGE JAMES · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just mainly wrong

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to get out of my echo chamber. I have been aware of the author's journalism and politics (can they be separated?) since the Brexit debate - and I don't like them. We come from either side of the Tyne river in N. E. England, so you could imagine some common ground, but there is none.

I have found British politics, or at least how they play with the public, pretty unfathomable since at least 2016, but most definitely since 2019 so this book seemed like a good opportunity to try and take the temperature and understand better what might be motivating the sentiment of the electorate.

I found the first half of the book pretty infuriating. The author's political views come through very strongly and I was left surprised at how partisan an FT journalist (Whitehall Editor, no less) could be. I was driven to make more notes and highlights in this book than any other I have read recently - and mostly because I found arguments were weak or non-existent, or that the condescension was just too much.

I am pleased I continued with the book because I definitely benefitted from the range of heavy-hitting interviews which do have some useful insights throughout. I think there is genuinely some affection for the places and people visited too - although it is communicated in quite a clichéd way and with little depth. The same points are simply reapplied in each chapter, even as the case is made for differentiation among the constituencies visited.

My final feeling is that this is a good piece of reportage and a useful snapshot of a very specific moment in time. It will be worth revisiting in a few years, as I suspect it will show its age.

[J William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sebastian Payne’s Broken Heartlands reads like the research notes to an epilogue on the 2019 General Election. It is an epilogue however, that has been well overtaken by events before the book had even made it to paperback, as the pandemic and a litany of self-inflicted crises in Downing Street somewhat undermine the author’s conclusions just a few months on.

The mixed reviews that this book has received seem to be mostly reflective of the polarised nature of the debate-cum-civil war in the Labour Party as to why the disastrous election in 2019 was lost; from the one star reviews of the ostriches on the left, to the five star reviews of the saboteurs on the centre and right of the party. And while I am in the loosest sense more of an ostrich than a saboteur, I do think that Payne gets a lot right in this book, even if his analysis is a little light.

Having listened to the book, narrated by Payne, after a few chapters I did get the sense that the topic would have been much better served by a long-listen FT podcast series than a book. In Payne’s journey across the crumbled Red Wall we meet countless salt of the earth ‘Old Labour’ characters, and whilst we hear their words, we never truly hear their voices. I’m no advocate of the pseudo wisdom of vox pops, but given the reliance on interviews and off-the-cuff opinions, I feel the narrative would have greatly benefited from the podcast treatment.

[Ilia Markov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of interviews, but after a while they get very repetitive and seem to be promoting the same set of points all over again — "Corbyn bad, Johnson good". To me, it sounds like the author is promoting a specific narrative, rather than trying to uncover the true reasons behind the switch in the Red Wall (and whether it's sustainable).

[Ted Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent exploration of the fallout surrounding the UK 2019 General Election.

Sebastian Payne's book takes the form of a very documentary-friendly style road trip, from the North East in Gateshead, across to Burnley, stopping along the way at key constituencies which saw a Conservative victory. These locations are singled out because they were previously thought of as 'safe seats' for the Labour Party and a great deal of Payne's book focuses on why Labour lost these electorates. It also smoothly shifts focus onto the larger issues happening in Britain, with an excellent analysis of immigration into Britain form the early 2000's and changes in British Asian communities from the 1980's.

At first, I really did not like this audiobook. Payne narrates his own work, which usually works well but for the first couple of chapters I found the audio to be quite tinny, and Payne's pace was off balance. It was also tough to tell when he was quoting people, and I thought a professional actor ought to have been considered given the amount of times this happens. However, around the third chapter Payne's intonation began to click with me and I became comfortable distinguishing his inflections, making it a far more enjoyable listen.

The book is very well structured. Each constituency is afforded a respectful tone of voice, Payne deals with every place's problems with seriousness and a deft insight to what may be going on beneath the surface. But at all times his narrative is led by the people on the ground, whether it be local candidates, heavyweight politicians or ordinary voters. In Great Grimsby, Payne interviews a business leader with pertinent thoughts on New Labour's emphasis on university education, and the harm it dealt to local vocational courses. In Coventry North West, he examines whether the BAME electorate has been overlooked by Labour. Payne paints a picture of what the impact will be of figures like Sajid Javid, Nadhim Zahawi and Kwasi Kwarteng.

But it's balanced with interviews from David Lammy and community leaders, in a way which makes it difficult to disagree with Payne's own personal conclusions. In Heywood & Middleton, Payne gets into a wonderful conversation about devolution across the UK and England, in the form of directly elected mayoralties. And finally in Burnley, he gets into the diminishing pride of industrial heartlands, and the dominance of private corporations, specifically BooHoo. He finishes with an analysis of what happened in Hartlepool and an entertainingly wild final half hour, where he advocates his own ideas on how things can be improved for Northern England moving forward.

Payne manages to interview nearly all of the influential figures from British politics in the past two years, besides a notable exception. As far as I can remember, Jeremy Corbyn is an exception to this, and if any critique of Payne's style can be levelled at him, it is that the book presents a bleak opinion of Corbyn's leadership. But that is generally the message of every single place Payne visits. Again, I think it might have helped to have had a professional actor to convey for audiobook listeners when Payne was quoting people, but he does a fine job of it by the end of his narration.

It'd be a little over the top to say that this is a 'must-read' for anyone interested in the current state and future of the Labour Party. But it is extremely close to a 'must-read'. It's relevant, and filled with insightful interviews, however Payne also recommends other sources, like BBC Radio 4 and podcasts, where similar information can be gained, at the end of his book.

Generally the most novel things about this book are the opinions of all the members of the general public Payne interviews, that offer a compelling variety of arguments for why Labour lost in 2019.

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Broken Heartlands is only 2 years old but already seems like ancient history. Even the chapter added last year while Boris Johnson was still leader seems like a lifetime ago. Two years ago it looked like a shoo-in that Boris Johnson would be elected for a second term in 2024. Since then we've seen two new prime ministers, three new chancellors, the collapse of the SNP, and a new monarch to boot. Not to mention Ukraine and the Cost of Living Crisis. Levelling Up, the much talked about central plank of Johnsonism, and a major theme of the 2019 General Election, seems to have quietly dropped down the priority list.

The central tenet of this book is that the collapse of the Red Wall was not an overnight phenomenon. The post-industrialisation and deunionisation of parts of the country means people were more inclined to look for alternatives to the Labour Party. High immigration from the EU initially meant that UKIP was the stepping stone, that eventually led many to go the whole hog to jumping to voting Conservative for the first time. Brexit and Corbyn were huge factors as well in steering voters into voting Conservative. Furthermore, gentrification meant that even former industrialised towns grew leafy suburbs where Conservative voters slowly amassed and are into the more urban Labour voters

The author goes around various Red Wall seats and speaks to people, mainly local politicians, about their views. The odd local person is interviewed but apart from the first chapter where he speaks to some of his mates in Gateshead, the views of "normal" people don't come across much. It's mainly a prolonged set of interviews with the political classes, and nobody under the age of 40 is spoken to. The young have by and large never voted Conservative, they didn't vote Leave either, and are likely to vote Labour in 2024 - so are out of scope for this book I suppose.

Apart from Great Grimsby, most of the seats he picked were towns close to cities. In almost every case, the presence of the nearby city caused issues for the town, especially the retail centre, as well as many people working/shopping outside their local area and losing the link with the community that was almost automatic when most people worked in the local pit or factory and drank at the local pub. That, along with a lack of union membership. eventually equates to less allegiance to the area they live in and a greater propensity to put an X in the Conservative box.

Today, after the Cost of Living Crisis in particular, it's common to see people complaining about 13 years of Conservative Party rule, but the fact is that for most of them, the Tories have been comfortably ahead in the polls. What's changed is the crippling inflation rate which everyone has noticed, since when Labour has risen to what appears to be an unassailable lead, but it seems to be more people looking towards Labour as the natural alternative than anything Starmer's party has especially done to attract voters. There have only been six Labour prime ministers and two of them (Callaghan and Brown) didn't serve full terms. So, sadly, a Conservative government is the norm in this small c conservative country - there have been 14 Tory prime ministers since 1924 when Labour first came to power. How many genuinely left-wing Labour PMs have we had?

2019 to 2023 has been an extraordinary period in UK politics and the volatility of the voters means there are likely to be more twists and turns before the next election in 2024. Some things don't change though - both major parties are once again led by male Oxford graduates from the South.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books on politics can be hard work, but this one was worth the effort. The author embarks on a tour of the “Red Wall” constituencies in England that turned “Blue” in the last election to try and understand what happened. In a nutshell, the book argues the main factors seem to have been (1) a dislike of Jeremy Corbyn (2) a personal liking of Boris Johnson and (3) a desire to see Brexit done. Hmm. Really? When it came to Brexit, I had the feeling that the book was dancing around the horny topic of immigration. UKIP and Nigel Farage aren’t brought into the discussion until page 172 and, while up to this point we get a role call of “influential” British MPs and political pundits and their views on where Labour went wrong, the man who actually turned British politics on its head - Nigel Farage - has to wait a long time before he’s asked his views. In the first half of the book, I was becoming really frustrated of hearing how the loss of the Red Wall was all about Jeremy Corbyn alienating the traditional Labour voter, almost as if the dreaded immigration issue came a long way second. It’s like the author didn’t want to lift this stone as he eulogises the essential integrity of the British Working Man and how Labour has let him down. But, to be fair, he eventually shoulders the sky, drinks his ale and grasps the nettle. At one point, he recalls an interesting vignette when he asks a mate to voice his opinion on Keir Stammer, and the guy shows him the almost infamous picture of the Labour Leader, and deputy leader, taking the knee in their central office. It wasn’t shown with an admiring comment. For me, this vignette spoke volumes about what almost the whole political class, including the media (apart from Nigel Farage), cannot bear to speak about. Immigration and race. Why? It’s the classic British elephant in the room and it so badly needs to be discussed. Britain is a tolerant country but it cannot tolerate almost any discussion of race - or at least, certain types of race. Until it can be faced, this issue is just going to fester and grow and it needs to be brought into the light by people such as Sebastian Payne.
The book is kept going by really interesting interviews with very connected people as well as “ordinary Joes”, although there are far more of the former. I’d have liked more Vox Pops as per the Keir Stammer story, but I suppose literally everyone has an opinion and what do they matter in isolation? Whereas a Tony Blair or Boris Johnson can act on their views to change the direction of political Britain.
In the course of reading this Boris Johnson crashed out - or was pushed out - as Britain’s Prime Minister. Whoever replaces him, it’s clear in the short term that “Britain’s Broken Heartlands” will have absolutely no say in it. Neither will the unbroken South. Given the book’s assertion that political figures really do matter to people in the street, what can the Red Wall or the Blue Home Counties do about this? Absolutely nothing. Surely that’s not right in a democracy that looks and acts like this book says it does?
Anyway, this was well written, topical, entertaining and worth reading, even if it already feels like a bit of almost ancient history.

[Stephen Morrissey · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those looking for a stimulating rompt through contemporary British politics, Sebastian Payne's "Broken Heartlands" is one of the best primers for catching up on our friends across the pond. Readers of Trump Era Rust Belt investigations will find many parallels with Payne's trip through the northern reaches of England, as the author travels across the former mining and industrial areas that once catapulted the Labour Party to electoral victories (and even stayed with Labour through harsh defeats during Thatcher's reign).

Since de-industrialization has taken hold, though, these areas of England have seen a marked uptick in Conservative Party voting, with many Tory MPs being voted in across recent elections. The shift reminds US readers of the both Rust Belt allegiances shifting from Democrats to Republicans, as well as the shift in the Deep South towards the Republican Party as voters identified more with cultural and visceral responses to a Democratic Party veering too far left, in their view.

Payne's book is a fascinating dive into how these areas feel, not simply how they vote. Recent elections have been subject to momentary political headwinds - the popularity of Brexit and the un-popularity of Jeremy Corbyn front and center. Something else, something much deeper, is at work with the political shifts - voters feel left behind by the central government, and left beind specifically by a Labour Party that fights against those who own houses, send their sons off to the military, and seek an aspirational model for political leadership.

Unfortunately for Labour, there are no quick answers for winning these voters back. Brexit, like Trump, gave license for many voters to participate in the political process in a different way. One of the more astute observations comes from former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who seeks new messaging for Labour around security - security for jobs, for incomes, for national defense, and for the welfare state that Britain has built up since the end of the Second World War.

Labour, like the US Democratic Party, has a fine line to walk with "left behind" voters - pure economic arguments (against monopolization and greedy corporations, as one example) are not enough to win these hearts and minds. The working class has felt left behind; it's up to future left-leaning leaders to figure out a way to ease that feeling, instill something more aspirational, and combine well-to-do voters in suburban rings with struggling working class voters in the exurbs.

After reading Payne's book, it is obvious that the Western world is undergoing a political re-alignment not witnessed since the 1960s. The results are still to be seen and felt.

[Matthew Eskuf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Payne's book Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour’s Lost England is an interesting insight into the thoughts of local people living in the old red-wall seats.

Payne argues that the decline of the red-wall has been an on-going process with UKIP / Farage laying the seeds for change which was cemented in the 2019 General Election with the loss of several long-standing Labour seats in the north and midlands.

Whilst Brexit and Corbyn were factors in the move towards a Conservative vote in the red-wall, there has been a deeper cultural shift within many working class communities which has rejected liberalism.

This political realignment was epitomised by Brexit but its routes are found in people’s perception of the nation state / patriotism, concerns over immigration and a sense that their community was being left behind in a new globalized world.

Payne points out that there is a feeling in these communities, that the Conservative party are now better placed to adress their concerns and drive positive change; embracing the charisma of Boris Johnson and the energy of a new wave of Conservative MPs who want to ‘level up’ by stimulating local economies through business investment, infrastructure and training and upskilling of local people.

At the heart of this agenda, was a belief that local areas can take charge of their own destiny through devotion / city regions and strong mayors, with towns being linked to local economic centres (cities) by way of improved infrastructure and transport investment.

Payne correctly recognises that Labour haven’t been able to communicate many of their recent achievements such as Housing Market Renewal, Sure start centres and minimum wage but this perhaps reflects the internal battle between different factions within the party.

To win back the red-wall Labour need to have a better understanding of their traditional electorate and embrace a progressive economic agenda whilst understanding people’s attachment to the local.

Critically, Johnson’s shift leftwards on economics through increased state spending and investment in infrastructure, alongside a focus on upskilling those left behind has left Labour in a challenging position.

[Andy Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I don’t agree with some of the author’s conclusions, I enjoyed reading Sebastian Payne’s Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour’s Lost England. Basically, a travelogue around the ‘red wall’ seats, Payne tries to delve into the reason why many of Labour’s former rock solid constituencies went blue at the 2019 general election, thereby handing Boris Johnson a massive parliamentary majority. Unsurprisingly, and correctly in my view, Payne identifies Brexit as the main reason for Labour’s electoral meltdown. But he also makes the point that the party’s support was waning long before 2019, tracing a gradual decline that started as far back as Tony Blair’s days in government. Many of the demographic changes (and social and economic problems)in the red wall seats have been a long time coming and Payne posits the view that a seismic political shift may have taken place that could see Labour out of power for a generation. He also recognises though that unless the Tories deliver on their much-vaunted levelling up plans then they could just as quickly find themselves punished by the electorate. An oft-repeated refrain from those Payne interviews in his book is the feeling that they have been forgotten about and disregarded by successive politicians, especially Labour ones. The calls for jobs, decent housing, a future for young people and a halt to the decline in villages and towns is clear from this book. Whether the current government can deliver on its promises - or show enough progress over the next couple of years - will decide the outcome of the next general election. With an interventionist Tory prime minister in post, Labour will need to be a lot bolder than simply appearing to be more responsible, reliable and appealing to vague notions of patriotism, if it is to gain electoral success. The deep seated social and economic challenges facing the country - and its attendant enduring inequality - call for more radical solutions than those currently on offer.

[Roel Jacobs · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exhaustive analysis of why labour lost its heartlands. Unfortunately, the book is repetitive as after a visit to two different towns the reasons for Brexit and the swing to the conservative party are abundantly clear. There is a strong sense in the former industrial areas of having been neglected by the metropolitan (read: London) based elite. The majority in these Northern towns voted Brexit mainly to give the finger to the political class. If the issue had been the imports of vital medicines and the government was advising a positive vote, chances are voters in these towns would still have voted against it. Anti-government feeling was strong. Still, the whole British political landscape is topsy-turvy. Voters felt a strong connection with Eton / Oxford educated Johnson while both his lifestyle and upbringing are very far removed from their everyday experiences. Admittedly, Corbyn made Boris’s task easier and what were seen as the former's extreme views were loathed. Somebody who considers Castro and Maduro’s economic policies as the examples to follow, always blames the world's ills on the USA / West and sides with the IRA while advocating unilateral arms control, is not inspiring confidence as a leader. Still, voters believed Boris's promise of levelling up and putting 20K police back on the streets and employing a further 22k nurses. It was the same conservatives who cut all these services when in government while Brexit has exacerbated the lack of personnel in the NHS! Having visited a number of towns mentioned in the book I understand the desire for change. However, one cannot escape the conclusion that the Brexit drama while a protest vote, was really turkeys voting for Christmas. Still, Keir Starmer will have a hard time constructing an alliance between a liberal elite more concerned with identity politics and the left behind in these towns who desperately need economic security and a sense of opportunity. Let’s hope a sensible middle ground re-emerges. Lib dems where are you when needed?

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really eye-opening account of the "red wall" towns lost to Labour in recent elections. Sebastian Payne (whose first name belies the salt-of-the-earth northern credentials he presents in the introduction) does a good job of tracking down the architects of New Labour's policy in the regions, and the recent Tory/coalition members who have shaped policy since. He's trying to get at the question of whether the vote was a freak occurrence, driven by short-term factors (brexit, and the relative popularity of Johnson and Corbyn) or whether something has shifted to make northerners feel more attuned to the tories' world view.
He does a good job at painting a picture using all the colours, not just the usual monochrome metropolitan view of the North being a giant, homogenous wasteland full of racists.
I think I'd have liked him to pick at those myths a bit more. He occasionally refers to immigration and to people nor being xenophobic, but the fact is that the pro-brexit vote share went up very steeply after the vote was announced, and that sentiment came from somewhere, and I'd have liked to hear what people thought were the changes they saw in their communities during and after that shift. I appreciate that might not be comfortable to put to people who are trying to portray their towns in the best light, but otherwise he's just misrepresenting the case - acting as though that resentment had always been there: it hadn't - at least, not to that extent, not according to poll numbers.


The other thing about this book is that even though its only about a year old, it sounds like ancient history: Johnson seems unassailable and will surely be in power for a long, long time unless something surprising happens. LOL, well it did, Sebastian.

[George Morrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like there's probably a fleeting subgenre of books about the Red Wall at this point. This notwithstanding, Broken Heartlands is well worth the read.

Sebastian Payne was the Whitehall correspondent for the Financial Times when this book was written. For the book, he drove a Mini around various Red Wall seats to find out what went wrong for Labour in 2019.

Much of this is what you'd expect: a feeling of being "left behind", poverty and frustration at being ignored. However, Payne interviews a wide range of people for the book from ex-miners to the prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson. We get a real sense of what people from these areas think beyond the aforementioned aphorisms. Britain is horribly centralised so that meaningful change cannot come via Whitehall dictat. Elected mayors is a step in the right direction and they need more power to deliver for their areas. It's not about vast sums of cash so much as attention and autonomy.

More than this though is the regeneration that has taken place in some of these areas. Hull, for instance, is a green energy hub while Great Grimsby is a big player in wind turbines. Additionally, there's more wealth here than the media might imply. As traditional industry has declines, some new sectors have risen. This has resulted in a disconnect between Labour and their traditional, working class base. The Conservatives severed this link in 2019.

I've not read the other books of the "Red Wall" genre but I feel like this is a good place to look for answers if you're wondering why people who voted Labour all their lives changed. As Payne points out, this process was well underway post-Blair. There has been a significant structural change and all parties now need to adapt.

[Rory Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Labour tribalist this book made for somber reading. Books on politics don’t tend to age very well and whilst Labour will undoubtedly capitalise on the Tories troubles, as they did in May, serious work needs to be done to rebuild the connection with their heartlands that was lacerated in 2019.

The most salient point in the book was that British society has fundamentally changed post De-Industrialisation, but not just necessarily in the ways one would assume. Tons of jobs have been lost in constituencies such as Don Valley, Sedgefield, Blyth, Durham (all covered in the book), but these losses represent more than just statistics.

What New Labour understood was that they had to move on from the 1980’s. However, what is made abundantly clear in this book, whilst Labour’s governance definitely benefitted lots of areas that had been decimated by Thatcherism, it did not successfully challenge its hegemony. Instead of constructing a post-Thatcherite settlement, they accepted Thatcherism but implemented it with much greater care for society.

Neither the tories, as is admitted Tebbit in the book, nor Labour truly appreciated the fundamental change. Thus, post-2010, voters have been left pondering what New Labour did to transform their lot…

Labour treated it’s working class vote as if it were a door handle which, despite yearning for oil had not ceased to work, and thus, was not worthy of either time or affection.

[to be cont.]

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour's Lost England is one of those political road-trip novels, exploring why people across the "Red Wall" choose to vote Conservative in the 2019 elections.

As the book goes on, a pattern starts to emerge - towns which shows up here tend to be those which saw great success in mining and other physical work at the turn of the century, only for it to all close down and send them adrift by the 1980s. The result is the townspeople are embued by the sense of nostagla from the Conservative Party to vote. The other pattern is that they tend to think of Labour as having failed them, especially that of Jeremy Corbyn, and prefer Boris Johnson. You can tell that this book was written around 2021 by the fact that the author seems enamored by Johnson and seems to genuinely belive that he will go through with his promises - as time told us, he certainly didin't.

The problem with this book is that it gets rather reptitive, not helped by the fact that everyone that the author seems to interview are business owners in their 50s or 60s. If not, then it is a political figure. To have a younger person put forward their view. Then again, it might have spoiled the narrative.

Still, an interesting book.

[Jeff Chalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I was impressed by Seb Payne's articulate media performances. It started well with the first few chapters about parts of the country I knew very little about. The role played by de-industrialisation, the loss of community-sustaining work/union/working mens' clubs, the roles played by Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn's leadership were all enlightening.

The first time around. By the time Payne conducts his 51st interview in his 28th constituency the repetition becomes tedious.

There is so much monotone reporting of opinions and so little analysis that the promised subtleties don't emerge. In Burnley, Coventry or Consett it is the same litany of broken promises, disconnect with the electorate and abandonment of old loyalties. A book one third of the length of this one could have made his point.

And then, two days after I started the book, Johnson resigned. Much of the book's immediacy was lost. The Labour Party's problems in these heartlands remain but the Tories have a whole set of new ones. The uncritical voters of the heartlands can now see their hero has feet of clay.

[sallytates · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Well reported and engagingly written, but poorly structured. The first half of the book is fairly repetitive: X Constituency flipped Tory in 2019 because of some combination of (1) Brexit; (2) Corbyn's unpopularity and Johnson's affability; (3) the effects of deindustrialization and reduction in collectivism; (4) more affluent residents; and (5) Labour's poor communication with voters. A chapter to each of these five main issues would have made for a stronger structure. Later chapters focusing on each party's relationship with Black and Asian communities (Coventry North West), a town that's doing well post-industrialization (Burnley) and the Red Wall constituency that flipped in a post-2019 by-election (Hartlepool) could remain as location-specific chapters.

Payne interviewed many MPs and party grandees, both past and present, as well as regular voters, but remarkably few young ones.

The book was also poorly copy edited: sentence fragments and misplaced or missing commas abounded.

[Issy Barradale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could probably write a whole essay analysing the ins and outs of this book, but for the purpose of a goodreads review I'll keep it brief. This book offered an interesting narrative on the fall of the 'red-wall' seats that fell from Labour to Conservative during the 2019 election. Payne had some interesting thoughts, and it was nice to see a piece of political writing centred around people's experiences, with the focus on individual narratives and personal interviews with people being one of my personal favourite aspects of the book. It was great to see an in-depth focus on more local politics - bringing back the political narrative to a more people, constituent focused base. Obviously, there were many things I could disagree with in the book and Payne himself does not portray a completely apolitical stance. However, given that this is not really possible when discussing political subject matter, it didn't bother me too much. The key is to remember this and keep critical during the read. Overall, a good book, though a bit repetitive at times.

[Christopher Hodder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Sebastian Payne and listen to his podcast nearly every weekend whilst cooking breakfast for the family. As an FT subscriber, I also read most of his articles.

This was a really well written, well researched and engaging book that covered an interesting topic. My only small gripe is that it wasn't written with longevity in mind and much of the information and analysis in it already seems out of date. It's more like a really good (and really, really long) political magazine article rather than a history book and touches more on the thoughts and feelings of people at a certain place and time rather than using those to support a solid historical/political hypothesis.

None of this detracts from it being a highly engaging and informative read. It certainly deserves to win the many plaudits and awards it has done and I would recommend reading it to those interested in the state of modern Britain (particularly for those in the Labour 'movement').

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has dated really fast.
Perhaps it is true that all Conservative Governments eventually fall due to sleaze. We seem to be heading that way but things change quickly and there is two years plus until a general election.
My complaint about books like this is there are a significant amount of voters who flip votes based almost on a whim rather than what is best from an economic standpoint. So polls change from week to week over what appears innocuous incidents at the time. Books like this become irrelevant pretty quick though I guess they have a historical interest.
The great strength the Conservative Party do have is this ability to regenerate like Dr Who whereas Labour get stuck in ideology and often sound out of touch. But stopped clocks and all that…..
The conundrum is that only a single Party system like China can make long term decisions that short term democratic Parties can only dream about.
Not that I advocate such a system of course.