Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Labour Party is one of Britain's two major political parties. It was founded in 1900, following debate about the need for a party to represent the interests of Britain's working-class population. In 1922 it replaced the Liberals as the opposition to the Conservatives, and headed its first coalition government in 1924 under Ramsay MacDonald. Labour won outright power for the first time in 1945 under Clement Attlee and set about completing construction of a welfare state and a managed economy, nationalizing key industries and creating a national health service, a social security system, and a subsidized education system. It lost power in 1951, but returned in 1964–70 and again in 1974–6 under Harold Wilson, and in 1976–9 under James Callaghan. It went into opposition in 1979, losing four straight general elections and undergoing a crisis of confidence before finally regaining power in 1997 under Tony Blair. Labour's difficulties in the 1980s were widely blamed on a combination of the political shrewdness of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, “unelectable” party leaders such as the old-style socialist Michael Foot, and the unpopularity of many of its more traditional socialist policies, including state ownership of key industries, support of labor unions, and the redistribution of wealth through taxation. The depth of its internal problems was emphasized in 1981 when ... log in or subscribe to read full text