This is the second book in a unique two-volume study tracing the evolution of the Labour Party’s foreign policy throughout the 20th century to the present date. This is the first comprehensive study of the history of the Labour Party’s worldview and foreign policy. It argues that Labour’s foreign policy perspective should be seen not as the development of a socialist foreign policy, but as an application of the ideas of liberal internationalism. Volume Two provides a critical analysis of Labour’s foreign policy since 1951. It examines Labour’s attempts to rethink foreign policy, focusing on intra-party debates, the problems that Labour faced when in power, and the conflicting pressures from party demands and external pressures. It examines attitudes to rearmament in the 1950s, the party’s response to the Suez crisis and the Vietnam War, the bitter divisions over nuclear disarmament and the radicalisation of foreign and defence policy in the 1980s. It also examines Labour’s desire to provide moral leadership to the rest of the world. The last two chapters focus on the Blair and Brown years, with Blair’s response to the Kosovo crisis, to 9/11 and his role in the ‘war on terror’. Whereas Blair’s approach to foreign affairs was to place emphasis on the efficacy of the use of military force, Brown’s approach instead placed faith in the use of economic measures. This highly readable book provides an excellent analysis of Labour’s foreign policy. It is essential reading for students of British politics, the Labour Party, and foreign policy.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This is the first comprehensive study of the political ideology and history of the Labour Party's world-view and foreign policy. It argues that the development of Labour's foreign policy perspective should be seen not as the development of a socialist foreign policy but as an application of the ideas of liberal internationalism. The first volume outlines and assesses the early development and evolution of Labour's world-view. It then follows the course of the Labour party's foreign policy during a tumultuous period on the international stage, including the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, the build up to and violent reality of the Second World War, and the start of the Cold War. This highly readable book provides an excellent analysis of Labour's foreign policy during the period in which Labour experienced power for the first time.

This is the first book in a two-volume set that looks at the foreign policy of the Labour Party throughout the 20th century, and into the early years of the new millennium. These books rectify the dearth of literature on both the political ideology and history of Labour's foreign policy. Through an in-depth political history of Labour's foreign policy in the first half of the twentieth century this first volume produces a new theorization of the nature of the party's foreign policy. It demonstrates that from its inception, the Labour Party has been deeply involved in and interested in international affairs. The book also shows clearly that Labour has provided an important contribution to the development of foreign policy in Britain.

Written at a critical juncture in the history of the Labour Party, Speak for Britain! is a thought-provoking and highly original interpretation of the party's evolution, from its trade union origins to its status as a national governing party. It charts Labour's rise to power by re-examining the impact of the First World War, the general strike of 1926, Labour's breakthrough at the 1945 general election, the influence of post-war affluence and consumerism on the fortunes and character of the party, and its revival after the defeats of the Thatcher era. Controversially, Pugh argues that Labour never entirely succeeded in becoming 'the party of the working class'; many of its influential recruits - from Oswald Mosley to Hugh Gaitskell to Tony Blair - were from middle and upper-class Conservative backgrounds and rather than converting the working class to socialism, Labour adapted itself to local and regional political cultures.

New Labour's electoral success of the late 20th century was due in no small part to its grasp of media communication. This book reminds us that the importance of the mass media to Labour's political fortunes is by no means a modern phenomenon.

This is the first book in a two-volume set that traces the evolution of the Labour Party's foreign policy throughout the 20th century and into the early years of the new millennium.