Introduction

Abstract

There is no shortage of books about ‘new’ Labour. The repackaging of the British Labour Party in the 1980s and 1990s has been the subject of much academic study and even more journalistic speculation. Numerous volumes and articles have sought to dissect the personalities involved, the policy directions pursued and the extent to which the party’s underlying values have or have not changed.¹

The renewal of Labour is not a distraction from winning power. Indeed the modernisation of the Labour Party is the first step to the modernisation of Britain. That is why the task of regenerating Labour must lie at the heart of a political strategy for winning and sustaining power.

Gordon Brown, in Making Mass Membership Work, 1993

In this last year we have transformed our party — our constitution rewritten, our relations with the trade unions changed and better defined for today’s world, our party organisation improved … I did not come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change my country, and I honestly believe that if we had not changed … we could not change the country.

Tony Blair, speech to Labour Party conference 1995

I have always believed that the politics of organisation is as important as the politics of ideas.

John Prescott, speech to Labour Party conference 2000