LABOUR'S CIVIL WARS

How

Infighting has kept the Left from Power (and what can be done about it)

Patrick Diamond Giles Radice

£12.99

12 September 2023

Politics and Government

B-Format paperback | 320 pages 978-1-913368-74-6

‘A thought-provoking book’ —Literary Review

The biblical adage that ‘if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand’ remains sound theological advice. It is also essential counsel for any political party in Britain that aspires to win elections. Though both major parties have been subject to internal conflict over the years, the Labour Party has been more given to damaging splits. The divide exposed by the Corbyn insurgency is only the most recent example in a century of destructive infighting. Indeed, it has often seemed as if Labour is more adept at fighting itself than defeating the Tory party.

This book examines the history of Labour’s civil wars and the underlying causes of the party’s schisms, from the first split of 1931, engineered by Ramsay MacDonald, to the ongoing battle for the future between the incumbent Labour leader, Keir Starmer, and those who fundamentally altered the party’s course under his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.

Patrick Diamond is professor of public policy at Queen Mary University of London. He was senior adviser to the prime minister (2001–05) and head of policy planning in 10 Downing Street (2009–10). Giles Radice (1936–2022) was in parliament for forty-six years, first as an MP and later as a Labour member of the House of Lords. He was the author of fifteen books, including Friends and Rivals and Odd Couples.