‘New Labour’s’ 1997 election manifesto promised a ‘New Britain’ and much language and expense was again made constructing a ‘Modern Britain’ for a new millennium. But how successful was this endeavour? Big and at the time seemingly irreversible political shifts occurred both at Westminster and in Northern Ireland. British foreign policy gained a new language – adopted from Washington – of a ‘war on terror’ that energised wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. British society – according to Blair himself in his 2007 leaving speech– had become more tolerant, liberal, and multicultural at the same time as it had introduced greater state powers to punish, imprison and deport those living here. How fair an interpretation was Blair’s of the previous ten years. What was the ‘New Britain’ he had helped construct and how new was it?
Lesson List
- How did New Labour seek to ’reconstitute’ Britain?
- How successful was Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer?
- How much of a ‘New Britain’ did ‘New Labour’ deliver?
- Were the Conservatives simply unelectable after 1997?
- Who or what can take most credit for the Good Friday Agreement?
- How typical was the experience of Tower Hamlets under New Labour?
- How far was 9/11 a turning point in foreign policy under New Labour?
Another History is Possible 