Ben Pimlott described Judith Hart as ‘probably the most left-wing member of the Cabinet’ in the 1960s.

As Social Security Minister (DWP), she took a hard line against benefit cheats in the name of socialism.

Her attitude reflects an instinct that is rarer on the left today🧵 Hart declared it ‘monstrous’ that ‘work-shy’ middle-class youth who saw themselves as ‘God's gift to poetry or guitar-playing’ refused low-prestige jobs.

‘It is to this sort of person that we have to say: Sorry, but you have to wash dishes in a café’.

A party that was polling over 50% in this same Parliament, now at 18%.

Few will say it, but I genuinely believe (as I said at the time) that removing Boris Johnson was an act of electoral self-sabotage by the Tories on par with Labour’s embrace of a 2nd referendum in 2019.

https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1765910523952918586

Of course, there was much outrage over 'partygate', but much of the furore was media-driven and amplified by people who hated Boris quite specifically for his role in Brexit.

I was never convinced it mattered as much for the Tories' 2019 coalition, especially in the long run.

Nye Bevan was a strong supporter of Israel. After a visit in 1954, he wrote about Zionism in characteristically poetic terms:

'For the Jew, the immediacy of his remote past is an intimate reality. He is living among places whose names are enshrined in his racial literature...' 'They make sweet music to his ears... They whisper in his blood and evoke memories of a time that was, before he was compelled to seek shelter in reluctant lands.'

In the 1960s, the former Deputy Labour Leader reflected on his long opposition to proportional representation.

'The purpose of a parliament and a government is to govern. If a government is to stand a chance of success...it has to be coherent', he opined. The first time Morrison ever spoke in Parliament after his maiden speech in 1923 was to denounce Liberals' schemes to introduce PR to elect MPs.

Morrison recalled, 'Support for this election system has grown in the Liberal Party as they have diminished in numbers'.

Of course, I would agree with that statement.

As we write in the book, a majority in the Commons should be utterly decisive.

A government that commands such a majority, therefore, should be able to deliver its agenda w/o legal restraints (while facing ongoing political ones).

https://twitter.com/Con_Soc/status/1663485916558639105

David has written a v good review, but I do think it tilts at windmills sometimes.

Speaking for myself, at least, I do not support two of the main 'Bonapartist' devices he criticises (referendums and direct member election of party leaders). Nor do we advocate them in intro

In 1956, Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin visited London. All smiles, they met with the Conservative Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

It was deemed a charm offensive, but on one evening with the Labour Party, Khrushchev's charm was very much switched off. 🧵 As part of their visit, the Soviet leaders were invited to dinner with the Labour frontbench in a private dining room in the House of Commons.

With the help of wine and stubborn characters in the room, the encounter was nothing short of disastrous.

Harold Wilson believed in the idea of the Labour Party being a broad church.

An ecumenical spirit guided his leadership, unlike today sadly.

His political secretary Marcia Williams summarised Wilson's approach and contrasted it with those who'd show the door to dissenters:
🧵 'Against this damaging embarrassment, the Labour Right reacted violently. They felt it their duty to stamp out any hint of left-wing sympathy.

Harold Wilson sought to end that blind and unreasoning condemnation...The Left and Right of the Party were made to accept each other...

In anticipation of the 18 days of further industrial action called by my union @ucu starting tomorrow, I turned to my copy of Adolf Sturmthal's 1966 volume 'White-Collar Trade Unions'.

The chapter on the UK by Guy Routh is remarkably apposite even nearly 60 years on...

🧵 Routh writes, 'as every organizer knows, white-collar workers are extraordinary difficult to get out on strike; it goes against some deeply held feelings -- their sense of social equality with the boss, their privilege of payment... their semipermanent attachment to the firm...

In December 1981, a delegation of Labour MPs went to Brussels to discuss Labour's plan for leaving the EEC with the Commission.

The confidential report of the meeting provides a fascinating look at what were in effect the first negotiations on Brexit, covering familiar themes/1 The Labour delegation was led by the wonderful, left-wing, former overseas develop minister Judith Hart, supported by three other eurosecptic Labour MPs: Gwyneth Dunwoody, Doug Hoyle (father of the current speaker), and Denzil Davies. /2

In 1980, during the leadership of Jim Callaghan, 71% of delegates at Labour Party conference voted in favour of leaving the EEC. The left-wing union leader Clive Jenkins complained that EEC membership meant British taxpayers were subsidising 'fat cows' in Germany.

'In future, all harvest festivals will be held in hangers at Heathrow', he joked.

In 1986 as a Labour MEP, Barbara Castle reflected on her fundamental problems with the EEC:

'The Treaty of Rome, on which all Community decisions are founded, is based on two contradictory beliefs...' /1 'on the other hand, the creation of a large free market and the removal of all barriers to competition will automatically solve the problems of industry and raise the standards of life of industrial workers...'

In the 1980s, a majority of Labour MEPs were eurosceptic. 74% of them signed a document sent to the NEC in 1986 urging Labour to maintain its policy of EEC withdrawal.

It was written by Labour MEP leader Alf Lomas, who represented London in the European Parliament.

Excerpts:🧵 'The Labour Government that will be elected in Britain at the next election will be faced with tremendous problems…as well as the havoc created by the Tories, Labour will be confronted by obstacles imposed by our membership of the European Communities...'