Jeremy Corbyn and the Strange Rebirth of Labour England

Post-war Labour England wasn't a bad place to live, but after Labour's 2015 election defeat, the prospect of a healthier, happier and fairer country seemed more remote than ever. Who would have predicted that career backbencher and serial rebel Jeremy Corbyn would be the one to breathe new life into a near moribund Labour Party? Defying all odds, and most commentators and pollsters, Labour staged a remarkable comeback at the 2017 election. Love him or loathe him – and most people feel one way or the other – Corbyn represents a new hope, which everyone believed had been extinguished by the bitter hostility of the Thatcher era and the grubby triangulations of the Blair years. Almost uniquely amongst European social democratic parties, Corbyn's party has rallied. It has turned its back on New Labour, membership is thriving and, at long last, the party is appealing to the young. Labour England wasn't dead – it had merely been sleeping. In Jeremy Corbyn and the Strange Rebirth of Labour England, Francis Beckett and Mark Seddon offer an alternative and refreshing take on the sad fate of Labour England over the past four decades. They then turn their attention to the extraordinary reversal of fortunes of the Corbyn years, and to what a new Labour England might look like – with or without Corbyn. Intro Title Page Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter One: It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times Chapter Two: The Forward March of Labour Halted Chapter Three: Seeds of Destruction Chapter Four: Meltdown Chapter Five: Back to the '30s with Maggie Chapter Six: Breaking the Unions Chapter Seven: Return of the Robber Barons Chapter Eight: Militant Tendencies Chapter Nine: The Wilderness Years Chapter Ten: The Rise of Blair Chapter Eleven: Tony Blair and the Great Missed Opportunity Chapter Twelve: A Faustian Pact and a Meeting with Her Majesty Chapter Thirteen: Enter the Control FreaksChapter Fourteen: The Road to Iraq Chapter Fifteen: 'A Control Freak, Uncollegiate and Delusional' Chapter Sixteen: Ed Stone Rules Chapter Seventeen: Labour's Most Reluctant Leader (Ever) Chapter Eighteen: The Strange Rebirth of Labour England Chapter Nineteen: Corbyn and the Circular Firing Squad Chapter Twenty: Corbyn's Jewish Problem Chapter Twenty-One: Labour Anti-Semitism -- Virus or Tory Ramp? Chapter Twenty-Two: Forward March Afterword Index Copyright In Jeremy Corbyn and the Strange Rebirth of Labour England , Francis Beckett and Mark Seddon offer an alternative and refreshing take on the sad fate of Labour England over the past four decades. They then turn their attention to the extraordinary reversal of fortunes of the Corbyn years, and to what a new Labour England might look like with or without Corbyn. In the event, Corbyn's Labour Party lost the 2020 election being rejected by even traditionally Labour areas of the country.