Political Memoirs and New Labour: Interpretations of Power and the ‘Club Rules’
| Published date | 01 November 2010 |
| Date | 01 November 2010 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-856X.2010.418.x |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Political Memoirs and New Labour:
Interpretations of Power and the
‘Club Rules’bjpi_418498..522
David Richards and Helen Mathers
This article uses the Westminster Model to construct a framework for interpreting the nature of
power relations presented in British political memoirs, one that emphasises the role of ‘historical
impact’. It then argues that the model’s ethos has a culture of honourable secrecy and club
regulation which conditions the memoirs of politicians and civil servants in contrasting ways. The
article examines the current batch of New Labour memoirs and observes that, despite attempts at
reform, a culture of club regulation persists. This is evidenced in a detailed case study of David
Blunkett’s diaries. The article concludes by suggesting that if the legitimising mythology of the
Westminster Model is to be sustained by Britain’s political elite, then it will require a more robust
form of regulation.
Keywords: New Labour; political memoirs; David Blunkett; Westminster Model
Introduction
In British politics, there is a long-established tradition of ministers providing
memoir-style accounts of their experience of government, most commonly in the
form of either autobiographies or political diaries.1Despite the potential value of
this primary empirical resource, the literature from political science reflecting on
the genre of political memoirs tends either to be rather defensive apologias for its
use or else concerns itself with methodology (Seldon and Pappworth 1983; Pimlott
1999; Theakston 2000; McGrath 2002; Arklay 2006; Walter 2006; Riall 2010). In
contrast, this article attempts to shift the debate beyond such discussions by explor-
ing memoirs through a now well-established literature concerned with theorising
and analysing the nature of power relations within British politics. The aim is to
respond to a plea prompted by Andrew Gamble, who in an article reviewing the
memoirs of the 1979–97 Conservative administration, concluded that they ‘are
valuable sources on the inside story but often have less to say on the outside story,
the wider context in which governments operate, in particular the structures of
power that shape British society and the British state’ (Gamble 2002, 150).
Since 1997, a rich store of new material has been published by ministers from the
Labour administration and, to a lesser extent, by public servants (see Table 1). These
contributions provide a suitable opportunity both to reflect on current develop-
ments in the tradition of political memoirs and, more importantly, to consider what
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-856X.2010.418.x BJPIR: 2010 VOL 12, 498–522
© 2010 The Authors. British Journal of Politics and International Relations © 2010
Political Studies Association
Table 1: Political Memoirs: 1964–2008*
Type/
Actor
Autobiographies/
Memoirs Diaries
Insider
commentaries
Labour (post-1997 in bold)
Ministers/junior
ministers/whips
James Callaghan
George Brown
Harold Wilson
Denis Healey
Roy Jenkins
David Owen
Edward Short
Lord Elwyn-Jones
Roy Mason
Eric Heffer
Bernard Donoughue
Betty Boothroyd
Clare Short
Mo Mowlam
John Prescott
Peter Kilfoyle
Tony Blair†
Hugh Dalton
Barbara Castle
TonyBenn
Richard Crossman
Kenneth Younger
Robin Cook
David Blunkett
Chris Mullin
Roy Hattersley
Gerald Kaufman
Civil servants Alec Cairncross
Michael Barber
Alec Cairncross StellaRimington
Richard Packer
Special advisers Joe Haines Lance Price
Alastair Campbell
Lady Falkender (Marcia Williams)
Peter Hyman
Derek Scott
Ambassadors/
diplomats
Craig Murray
Christopher Meyer
[Jeremy Greenstock]**
Conservative
Ministers/junior
ministers/whips
Harold Macmillan
Margaret Thatcher
Nigel Lawson
Lord (Peter) Carrington
Nicholas Ridley
Kenneth Baker
Cecil Parkinson
Peter Walker
Ian Gilmour
Norman Fowler
Michael Heseltine
James Prior
Norman Lamont
Norman Tebbit
John Major
Lord (David) Young
Edward Heath
Geoffrey Howe
John Nott
Lord Hailsham (Quintin Hogg)
Douglas Hurd
Tim Renton
Gillian Shepherd
Brian Mawhinney
George Walden
Giles Brandreth
Alan Clark
Neville Chamberlain
Austen Chamberlain
Edwina Currie
Civil servants Peter Wright
Anthony Part
Bernard Ingham
Clive Ponting
Derek Lewis
Special advisers Donald Maitland John Hoskyns Sarah Hogg and Jonathan Hill
Ambassadors/
diplomats
Nicholas Henderson
* This table is restricted to ministers (including junior ministers) and officials who played a part in government
** Refused publication
†Not published, prior to publication of this article
POLITICAL MEMOIRS AND NEW LABOUR 499
© 2010 The Authors. British Journal of Politics and International Relations © 2010 Political Studies Association
BJPIR, 2010, 12(4)
To continue reading
Request your trial