Did Things Get Better? An Audit of Labour's Successes and Failures - Softcover

Walker, David; Toynbee, Polly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141000163 ISBN 13: 9780141000169

Publisher: Penguin, 2001

Synopsis

Tony Blair's Labour swept into Government on a swell tide of optimism and carefully costed promises. As their first term in office draws into its final stretch and the Premier's problems seem to multiply by the day, two of our foremost liberal journalists cast a critical eye over Labour's performance. A mix of detailed, incontrovertible data and trenchant analysis will present to the public the facts behind the promises, the real figures behind the repeatedly announced spending increases. It promises to establish once and for all whether Labour's first term was the most radical since Attlee's, or whether Blair is indeed Thatcher's natural successor.

About this title

Review:

New Labour came into office on a wave of popular support and as politicians and the electorate prepare themselves for another general election (possibly postponed because of what is happening down on the farm), the recent Brown Budget has established a commanding beachhead for securing a second term. What has happened in between times is the subject of the authors' audit of the Blair Government's achievements.

Toynbee and Walker may be social democrats to the core (both are commentators on the Guardian newspaper) but they have striven for an objectivity in balancing the bouquets of red roses they hand out where they see success and brickbats where they find failure and missed opportunities. The Chancellor's mantra of monetary prudence, as they see it, mitigated against more than should and could have been done to resuscitate the nation's deprived public services and infrastructure.

But their audit is not just a statistical examination of economic and fiscal management. Their prognosis is studded with revealing insights into social policy, education and measures to improve the environment, all areas which earn their pluses and minuses. In their final analysis the authors argue that things did get better but they could have been even better ... if only. Two cheers, then, from the politically sympathetic scribes, but Toynbee and Walker earn themselves three for a thoroughly well-written, researched and, in many respects, objective analysis of what has occurred under New Labour.--Michael Hatfield

Synopsis:

Two of Labour's most incisive critics explore the performance of the Blair government's first administration. They compare the pledge made in the manifesto with the government's actions, and they seek to establish which groups have had their interests served, and which have been sidelined. The book examines every aspect of the administration, from their notorious attempts to manipulate the new agenda to the high profile attempts to reduce class sizes, the levels of child poverty and rates of long-term unemployment. It should provide the most comprehensive and fair-minded report on the achievements and failures of New Labour.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0141000163
• ISBN 13: 9780141000169
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288