Introduction

This chapter will explore the rise of New Labour, focusing on its approach to welfare and penal policies. New Labour marked a departure from more traditional social democratic policies that previous Labour administrations had adopted. In response to Thatcherism, New Labour tacked to the right, concerned that it would be seen as weak on crime. The prison population continued to grow in this period. In addition, New Labour introduced a new approach to welfare policies. These echoed the ‘tough love’ approach of the Clinton Democrats, introducing new forms of conditionality to the welfare system.

The birth of New Labour

There are many echoes of the early 1980s in post-Brexit politics. The Conservative Party has shifted further to the right and there is little doubt that Mrs Thatcher is the political heroine of current cabinet ministers, such as Priti Patel and Dominic Raab. In fact, they were co-authors of a Thatcherite polemic Britannia Unchained (Kwarteng et al, 2012), which was a programme to complete the Thatcherite revolution. As well as attacks on British workers, it included a proposal for the privatisation of the National Health Service (NHS). In the 1983 general election, the Labour Party under Michael Foot presented a radical programme. It included the nationalisation of the top 200 FTSE-listed companies, leaving the European Union (EU) and a commitment to nuclear disarmament. It was famously described by Labour MP Gerard Kaufman as the ‘longest suicide note in history’.

The 1983 general election was a disaster for the Labour Party. Mrs Thatcher was returned with an overall majority of 144; Labour lost 51 seats. The election was its worst performance since 1918. In the rout, three future leaders, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Jeremy Corbyn, were returned as MPs for the first time. The roots of New Labour are in the defeat of 1983. Michael Foot resigned and Neil Kinnock was elected leader. Kinnock was from the left of the party but led it from the centre, and a process of ‘modernisation’ began. This included the expulsion of Militant (a Trotskyist grouping within the party), the abandonment of support for unilateral nuclear disarmament and the party becoming pro-EU. From the post-Brexit referendum perspective, it is interesting to note that its opposition to the EU was used by its opponents to argue that Labour was ‘not fit to govern’.