Abstract
In many ways he was an Olympian figure. Blessed with an intelligence which was several notches higher than any other politician’s, with film star good looks, an incisive writing and speaking style and apparently brimming with self-confidence, it was almost written in the stars that he would rise to great heights. Added to that, his glamorous wartime record in the Parachute Regiment, his first-class honours and presidency of the Union at Oxford, his publication at the age of 38 of the widely acclaimed The Future of Socialism, and a glittering future seemed assured. Instead, despite some real achievements, he had a difficult and often frustrating career, and it was only in the final months of his life that it seemed that the early promise would be fulfilled.
Revised and expanded version of an article originally published in Prospect.
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© 1999 Dick Leonard
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Leonard, D. (1999). By Way of Introduction. In: Leonard, D. (eds) Crosland and New Labour. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27124-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27124-5_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-73990-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-27124-5
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