Crosland as a Minister

Abstract

Like most provincial politicians of my generation, I discovered Tony Crosland through The Future of Socialism. I no longer recall what sort of man I imagined him to be. But, despite the famous passage about the limited attraction of abstinence and good filing systems, I certainly thought of him as an ascetic. The mistake was reinforced when Hugh Gaitskell came to Sheffield to lay the foundation stone for a block of municipal flats. ‘Tony’, he told the assembled civic dignitaries over lunch, ‘has agreed to write the report of the co-operative movement.’ He took it for granted that we all knew which Tony he meant. Fred Mulley — Member of Parliament for the constituency in which the new housing development was to be built — whispered in my ear that it was Crosland, not Benn or Greenwood. It confirmed my view that the classic restatement of democratic socialist values had been written by a serious-minded academic.

Written for this volume.