Philip Gould, The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party

Philip Gould, The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party - From an historical point of view, this is extremely interesting reading. I particularly liked his recounting of the 1983, 1987 and 1992 elections. It does give what appears to be an honest account of the backroom struggles within the Labour Party and various events, such as the 'Jennifer's ear' debate, which of course, I was only aware of at the time by watching television. I have my own memory of this, and it is interesting to compare this with his account of what actually happened. I quickly read the first three quarters of the book, but the end is dull. I am more interested in it from an historical point of view, and it actually feels like he is trying to explain why Labour had to change to win the 1997 election. I am interested in the facts, not his repetitive analysis. To be honest, the reason why I found the end of the book less interesting could be because I disagreed with how much Labour had to change at this stage and that a smaller majority/coaltion with the Liberal Democrats would actually have been better for Britain democracy, so maybe I could not be objective about this.

Philip Gould, The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party is a very good book, which highlights Labour's inadaquecy in the early days to adapt to change, to recognise a new emerging middle class, and failing to understand what was good for the public. He writes how the crucial and much needed transformation helped to propel the Labour party into government, and dispel previous sceptical myths of the general party. An attempt at modernisation was successful in the form of 'new labour.' Very good book for anyone interested about the Labour party.