A compelling book that examines Gordon Brown's rise to power, his years as Chancellor, and his dramatic decision to give the Bank of England independence "An essential read for anyone who wants to properly understand political and economic policy developments over the past 15 years and enjoy some good insights about the future." Neil Kinnock, Vice President of the European Commission and former leader of the Labour Party. "For twenty years one of the most sceptical and authoritative voices on economic affairs in the British press." Robert Harris, best selling author. "A splendidly vivid account of the background, outlook and record of the most powerful Chancellor of modern times." Anthony Howard, biographer and political commentator. The economic policy of new Labour has been fundamental to its success. Gordon Brown has been at the very heart of new Labour's economic policy since the late 1980s and has been highly instrumental in convincing both the British public and the City that a Labour government can run the economy responsibly. He has generally been a popular and well-respected Chancellor - during his early years in office, he was highly praised for his prudence and yet now, well into the second term of office many of the issues on which the Blair government was elected, such as health and education, have not yet been satisfactorily addressed, and Gordon Brown is now being criticised for what many see as his imprudence in handling the nationâ??s finances. Examining how successful Labourâ??s economic policy has really been, when allowing for the good fortune of a world-wide economic boom, Keegan provides insights into the policies of new Labour, Gordon Brown's rise to power, the impact of his policies and how future policies might influence the economy. Written by a well-known and highly respected journalist who has been close to the heart of politics in Britain for many years, and who is thus able to offer an insiderâ??s view of how policy developed in both opposition and the Government Examines the professional relationships and private friction between Brown, other members of the Cabinet and the Bank of England Includes much previously unpublished material William Keegan is Associate Editor (since 1983) and Economics Editor (since 1977) of The Observer newspaper. A graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, he has previously held posts with the Financial Times, Daily Mail and Bank of England Economic Intelligence Department. He has sat on a range of advisory committees, including the BBC Advisory Committee on Business and Industrial Affairs, the Employment Institute Council and the Department of Economics Advisory Board, University of Cambridge. He is visiting Professor of Journalism at Sheffield University and is the author of a variety of successful books.

Tony Blair was the political colossus in Britain for thirteen years, winning three elections in a row for New Labour, two of them by huge majorities. However, since leaving office he has been disowned by many in his own party, with the term 'Blairite' becoming an insult. The election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader in 2015 seemed to be, if not an equal, at least an opposite reaction to Blair's long dominance of the centre and left of British politics. Drawing on new contributions from most of the main players in the Blair government, including Tony Blair himself, Jon Davis and John Rentoul reconsider the history and common view of New Labour against its record of delivering moderate social democracy. They show how New Labour was not one party but two, and how it essentially governed as a coalition, much like the government that followed it. This book tells the inside story of how Tony Blair worked out, late in the day, his ideas for improving the NHS and school reform; how he groped towards, and was eventually defined by, a foreign policy of liberal interventionism; how he managed a difficult relationship with his Chancellor for ten years; and how Gordon Brown finally took over just as the boom went bust and the New Labour era came to an end. Rentoul and Davis reveal how the governing tribes dealt with each other in the New Labour years: not simply the 'Blairites' and the 'Brownites', but the 'temporary' ministers and the 'permanent', under-reported civil servants who worked alongside them. Many of the arguments that raged within and around the Blair government of 1997-2007 remain very much alive: reform of public services; the right course for the divided Labour Party; and the Iraq war. The Blair Government Reconsidered aims at a balanced account of how decisions were made, to allow the reader to make up their own mind about controversies that still dominate politics today.

Excellent technical writing on corporation tax abounds, but it tends to be inaccessible to public lawyers, political theorists and political economists. Although recent years have seen not only an explosion in public law scholarship but also a reawakening of interest in interpretative political theory and political economy, the potential of these perspectives to illuminate the corporation tax debate has remained unexplored. In this important work, John Snape seeks to reconcile these disparate strands of scholarship and to contribute to a new way of understanding and conceptualising the reform of the law relating to corporate taxation. Drawing on important developments in public law scholarship, the study combines elements of political theory and political economy. It advances a new interpretation of corporation tax law as an instrument of rule, through the maximisation of a nation's economic potential. Snape shows how corporate taxation belongs at the centre of any discussion of economic globalisation, not only because of the potential of national tax systems to influence inward investment decisions but also because of the potential of those decisions to shape the public interest that those tax systems might embody. Following public law and politics models, the book looks afresh at the impact of Britain's political institutions, of the processes of its representative government and of the theory that moulds and orders the values that the corporation tax code contains. This is a timely exploration of cutting-edge issues of public policy.

"Labour's Thinkers" seeks to examine the key ideas emphasised by the twelve individuals whom the authors judge to have made the most significant development to the political thought of the Labour Party since the 1930s. Hickson and Beech argue the Labour Party is a party of values but often not of ideas. The number of people involved in the serious discussion of ideas in the Labour Party is relatively small and intellectuals are often viewed with suspicion in what is, or was, a party set up to represent the interests of the working classes. The formulation and development of ideas are therefore crucial to understanding the outcomes of the Labour Party's internal struggles and the basis of the party's appeal. "Labour's Thinkers" highlights influential and, at times, controversial figures involved in the battle of socialist ideas in the Labour Party thus exploring concepts, such as equality, liberty, community, power, the state, ownership and patriotism.

Examines the life of Gordon Brown, from his childhood in East Yorkshire to his current duties as a lecturer at Princeton University.

When the Treasury lost control of interest rates to the Bank of England in 1997, its status looked under threat. However, it quickly reasserted its power by dominating policymaking across Whitehall and diminishing other ministries in the process. It also successfully fought off attempts by Prime Ministers, from Blair to Johnson, to cut it down to size. In this fascinating insider account, based on in-depth interviews with the Chancellors and key senior officials, Howard Davies shows how the past twenty-five years have nonetheless been a roller-coaster ride for the Treasury. Heavily criticized for its response to the global financial crisis, and for the rigours of the austerity programme, it also ran into political controversy through its role in the Scottish referendum and the Brexit debate. The Treasury’s dire predictions of the impact of Brexit have not been borne out. Redemption of a kind, though a costly one, came from its muscular response to the COVID crisis. Anyone with an interest in economic policymaking, in the UK and elsewhere, will find this a valuable and entertaining account.