The Blair Supremacy: A Study in the Politics of Labour's Party Management - Softcover

Minkin, Lewis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719073804 ISBN 13: 9780719073809

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2014

Synopsis

Lewis Minkin has immense experience of the Labour Party and has acted as adviser to two major internal reviews of the internal party organisation. As the author of two widely acclaimed and original studies on the Labour Party, The Labour Party Conference and The Contentious Alliance, he possesses an unrivalled grasp of the subtleties and nuances of Labour's internal relationships. The Blair Supremacy is groundbreaking in its investigation of the processes, methods, character and politics of party management, during a period when Blair strengthened his own position as he and his allies and managers drove the party through a ferment of new developments under the name 'New Labour'. For this book Minkin has been able to draw on a wealth of sources unavailable to other scholars. What is uncovered here is revealing and at times startling. It includes an extensive covert internal organisation, a culture which facilitated manipulation and what can be described as a rolling coup. These developments are rigorously and critically examined with a strong focus on three fundamental questions: How were these changes achieved? Was it, as it was often represented, a complete supremacy? Why did it end so badly with Blair being forced, in effect, to step down? The study challenges many misconceptions and sheds new light on the Blair legacy and on the intense controversies surrounding him. It also adds greatly to our understanding of some acute contemporary problems in British political life.

About this title

Review

"Lewis Minkin (1978, 1991) is the author of two brilliant studies of the Labour party...The Blair Supremacy consolidates his reputation as the outstanding scholar of the Labour party. It is a painstakingly and thoroughly researched study, formidably analytical and buttressed by huge amounts of systematically marshalled evidence." - Eric Shaw, Political Studies Review, May 2016

"In light of one of the most extraordinary upsets in Labour's history, this book, more than ever, is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the party and its future - scholars, journalists, politicians, party members, and not least the new Corbyn leadership. Anyone who seeks to contribute to the debate over Labour's future, whether they agree or not with Minkin's arguments, will find they have much to learn from The Blair Supremacy's highly sophisticated and subtle analysis, rooted in both Minkin's penetrating intelligence and in his huge experience of observing and, at times participating in political life." - Eric Shaw, Political Studies Review, May 2016

"Lewis Minkin's mammoth, scrupulously researched, 800-page book, The Blair Supremacy builds on and develops the arguments mapped out in his earlier work...Those familiar with the earlier tomes will be unsurprised by the remarkable depth of the material marshalled by Minkin in the new publication alongside the sensitivity of his observations and his capacity for nuanced, qualified discussion of Labour politics. It is a scholarly tour-de-force which will become, unquestionably, a standard work on its subject." - Mark Wickham-Jones, Political Studies Review, May 2016

About the Author

Lewis Minkin is Visiting Honorary Professor in the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds. He is the author of two seminal works on Labour party organisation, The Contentious Alliance and The Labour Party Conference

About this edition

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0719073804
• ISBN 13: 9780719073809
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 816