Episodes

  • What happened to Peter Shore's Labour Party?
    Dec 22 2024

    Two-time Labour leadership candidate Peter Shore represented a version of left-wing politics that has mostly disappeared: constitutional socialism. He opposed Britain's entry into Europe and believed in the power of the House of Commons to deliver a radical socialist agenda. Yet by the time he left the Commons in 1997, the party he had represented for over three decades had abandoned many of his ideas. Why?

    In this episode, we mention the following books/articles:

    'A Constitutional Socialist' by Richard Johnson. Available at: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/06/a-constitutional-socialist

    'Ed Miliband is our most consequential MP, I’m afraid' by Dominic Lawson. Available at: https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/ed-miliband-is-our-eras-most-consequential-politician-im-afraid-gm8pqk058

    'Lord Berners: The Last Eccentric' by Mark Amory. Available at: https://amzn.to/41GClv1

    'Uproar!' by Alice Loxton. Available at: https://amzn.to/3VINN5z

    Since Attlee & Churchill is the podcast all about post-war British political history, hosted by:

    Lee David Evans
    is an historian of the Conservative Party and the John Ramsden Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. He is on social media @LeeDavidEvansUK.

    Richard Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and among his other areas of expertise is an historian of the Labour Party. He tweets at @richardmarcj.

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    39 mins
  • Could Harold Macmillan have been a Labour prime minister?
    Dec 16 2024

    Harold Macmillan, Conservative prime minister from 1957-1963, was one of the most iconic politicians of the twentieth century. In this episode, we rediscover some forgotten historical sources which pose the question: could he have been a Labour prime minister? One very surprising Labour figure certainly thought so...

    In this episode, we mention the following books/articles:

    'Could Macmillan Have Become a Labour Prime Minister?' by Lee David Evans. Available at: https://substack.com/home/post/p-143749625?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    'The Abuse of Power' by James Margach. Available at: https://amzn.to/3ByfaIy

    'Macmillan' by Emrys Hughes. Available at: https://amzn.to/4iAZxkr

    'The Twilight of the Pardon Power' by Margot Colgate Love. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25766118

    'Backbencher' by Ian Mikardo. Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/88123567

    'Ian Mikardo' by Tam Dayell (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Available at: https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-52289?rskey=JkgL8F&result=1

    'OUT' by Tim Shipman. Available at: https://amzn.to/3VFuUQZ

    Since Attlee & Churchill is the podcast all about post-war British political history, hosted by:

    Lee David Evans
    is an historian of the Conservative Party and the John Ramsden Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. He is on social media @LeeDavidEvansUK.

    Richard Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and among his other areas of expertise is an historian of the Labour Party. He tweets at @richardmarcj.

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    29 mins