Conclusion

Abstract

The primary objective of this book was to construct a theoretical framework for investigating how politicians use moral arguments to win support for their policy programmes. Taking into account the requirements of ideology, argumentation and hegemonic competition, this framework enabled us to analyse the process by which New Labour selected, modified and applied such arguments in the areas of welfare, rights and constitutional reform, community and foreign policy. I begin this concluding chapter with a general account of the argumentative strategies that New Labour employed during Blair’s premiership. Next, I outline the policies introduced by the Brown government in the four areas and the arguments used to promote them, and I compare them with those examined elsewhere in this book. In the final section, I consider the implications of the case of New Labour for our understanding of the process of political justification.