When Tony Blair’s New Labour government came to power in 1997, it promised a referendum on changing the voting system for the House of Commons. It then appointed the political grandee Roy Jenkins to work out what an alternative might look like. The Jenkins Commission reported its proposals for a new electoral system in 1998, but the referendum was never held.

With electoral reform once again high on the political agenda, in this episode Lee and Richard revisit the last time a Labour government seriously considered changing the way Britain elects its MPs. They look at the long history of the electoral reform debate, from attempts to change the voting system in the early 20th century to Labour’s growing interest in PR in the 1990s. And they examine the Jenkins Commission, Tony Blair’s scepticism about electoral reform, and the political calculations that ultimately saw New Labour quietly abandon its pledge of a referendum.

Enjoy ad-free listening, bonus episodes and show your support for the podcast by joining the Since Attlee & Churchill Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SinceAttleeAndChurchill

Buying books via the Since Attlee & Churchill Bookshop is a great way to support the podcast. Click here to visit the shop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/saac

Enjoy listening to the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast? If so, we would be very grateful if you could leave us a 5 star review!

***

Since Attlee & Churchill is a podcast about post-war British politics - since Attlee & Churchill - and is hosted by Lee David Evans, an historian of the Conservative Party, and Richard Johnson, an historian of the Labour Party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lee and Richard discuss Andy Burnham’s speech to the Labour Party Conference. Did it actually represent a meaningful change in Labour’s policies and politics? Or do Burnham's words simply amount to a nebulous set of promises that his government cannot and will not deliver — at least this side of an election? They then turn to a topic that has been at the heart of Labour politics since the party's foundation. As Richard explains, Labour has been on a journey away from being a party of trade unionists and working-class people towards electing MPs and party officials from an increasingly narrow range of social and professional backgrounds. What does it mean for a party originally created to give working people political power to become a middle-class party that seeks to act charitably for the working class, rather than in partnership with the working class?

Enjoy ad-free listening, bonus episodes and show your support for the podcast by joining the Since Attlee & Churchill Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SinceAttleeAndChurchill

Buying books via the Since Attlee & Churchill Bookshop is a great way to support the podcast. Click here to visit the shop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/saac

Enjoy listening to the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast? If so, we would be very grateful if you could leave us a 5 star review!

***

Since Attlee & Churchill is a podcast about post-war British politics - since Attlee & Churchill - and is hosted by Lee David Evans, an historian of the Conservative Party, and Richard Johnson, an historian of the Labour Party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Labour General Secretary Morgan Phillips famously claimed that the Labour Party owed more to Methodism than to Marxism. But was he right? In this episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Richard and Lee explore the Methodist tradition and its influence on the Labour movement - including the importance of Methodism in teaching working class people about political organisation and public speaking. Throughout the episode, Richard shares the stories of some of the remarkable Labour politicians whose lives were shaped - even transformed - by Methodism, before wondering whether the debate posed by Phillips’ statement is still relevant to Labour today.

In this episode, the following books are mentioned:

'Labour and the Free Churches, 1918-1939' by Peter Catterall.

'The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-Literate Society' by James Marriott. Available at: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16406/9781847929518

Enjoy ad-free listening, bonus episodes and show your support for the podcast by joining the Since Attlee & Churchill Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SinceAttleeAndChurchill

Buying books via the Since Attlee & Churchill Bookshop is a great way to support the podcast. Click here to visit the shop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/saac

Enjoy listening to the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast? If so, we would be very grateful if you could leave us a 5 star review!

***

Since Attlee & Churchill is a podcast about post-war British politics - since Attlee & Churchill - and is hosted by Lee David Evans, an historian of the Conservative Party, and Richard Johnson, an historian of the Labour Party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.