The Labour Party

Abstract

For almost half a century one date has dominated the myths and actions of the Labour Party:1931. Since the traumatic events of that year, the party’s guiding principle has been to avoid, in peace-time, co-operation in Parliament or at the hustings with other parties. The way in which in 1931 a Labour Prime Minister and some of his senior colleagues joined a coalition government, dominated by the Conservatives, and then used that coalition to inflict a crushing defeat on their former party, has served to keep all subsequent Labour leaders on the path of virtue.