Reforming Britain : new labour, new constitution

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書誌事項

Reforming Britain : new labour, new constitution

John Morrison

Pearson Education, 2001

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Includes bibliographical references and index

内容説明・目次

内容説明

New Labour's shake-up of the British constitution is the most significant for at least a century; devolution and the Human Rights Act will permanently alter the way the UK is governed. Meanwhile other key areas of government, such as the office of Lord Chancellor, have escaped unscathed, and critics say the reforms are incoherent. Unique in its topicality, range and depth, Reforming Britain is the only full survey of the whole constitutional reform agenda under the New Labour government. It describes how Labour has redrawn the political map and assesses the impact upon citizens in Blair's Britain. John Morrison puts Labour's achievements (and underachievements) in perspective, chronicling the ups and downs of Labour policymaking, from the opening of the Scottish Parliament to the dramatic fall of Alun Michael in Cardiff. He explains the reasoning behind reform and looks at what the future might hold for us all, asking whether Blair's modernization of the constitution will really make Britain more democratic.He also looks at the government's attitude to the monarchy and asks how the United Kingdom can take part in framing a new constitution for the European Union when it has no written constitution of its own. Reforming Britain is based on over 50 hours of interviews with the key political players of the last few years, including Home Secretary Jack Straw and the former Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown, and features one of the last interviews with Donald Dewar - the architect of modern Scotland - before his death. The book combines serious research with first-hand observation and an engaging journalistic style, and includes a foreword from Michael Brunson, former ITN Political Editor. John Morrison delves deep into the heart of British politics, shedding unusual light on the workings of Westminster at a time of unprecedented change.

目次

Chapter 1 - From Bagehot to Blair:You don't have to wear an anorakA jigsaw with missing piecesA risky businessDaylight and magicAppearance and realityInvisible inkThe Westminster modelA growing malaise Chapter 2 - The Status Quo Party:Keir Hardie returnsThe swing to the leftEurope divides LabourBlair elected as Labour hits the floorCharter88 emergesElectoral reform moves up the agendaLabour's 1993 constitutional planBlair and Smith's unfinished business'The Union is in danger'The Cook-Maclennan agreement Chapter 3 - A Scottish and Welsh Mystery Tour:Devolution and the Third WayThe Claim of RightA parliament convened - or reconvenedLabour in powerIndependence by 2007?The sensible partyThe slippery slopeRed dragons and red flagsLabour's one-party stateDavies and the uphill struggleA disaster for LabourA new broomA pact with the Liberal DemocratsA Blair mea culpe?The end of the beginning Chapter 4 - The English Question:Gladstone and the Irish questionCaution reigns in EnglandLabour's English dilemmaBlair and the Labour 'heartlands'Local government and elected mayorsWest Lothian and WestminsterHorses for coursesEngland the loser? Chapter 5 - The House of Plots:The stains of blue bloodTory or WhigLabour as a unicameralist partyStage oneA lifeboat for the hereditariesThank you and goodbyeStage two - the White paper and WakehamA race for the finishA dead duck?A peer's nightmareLiberal Democrats left unhappyA lack of clear goals Chapter 6 - A New Set of Rules:The great and the goodFundamental, but not too fundamentalThe Neill packageLabour's turn to legislateFarewell to the 1880sMoney and politics can still mix Chapter 7 - The One that got away:From Keir Hardie to Robin CookFrom Cook-MacLennan to JenkinsBridging the Labour-Liberal Democrat gapPaddy, Tony and the forces of tribalismAn 'isolated bastion'A Scottish backlashThe drive to ditch the referendumMandelson and the alternative voteFudge in the West CountryHeads I win, tails you lose? Chapter 8 - Joining up Sir Humphrey:The Rose Garden styleAfter ThatcherA blank sheet of paperThe Oval Office in Downing Street?Politicization and special advisersA question of loyaltyWhere the buck stopsModernize or dieFrom quango to task forceFrom task force to joint ventureThe art of the U-turnClark the idealistToo good to be trueStraw adopts a policy orphanThe Home Office version of FOIToo many exemptions Chapter 9 - Chasing the Dragon:Don't wave that flag?To the Forbidden CityCynacism or naivety?The Blair doctrineThe Human Rights ActFreedom or speech and assemblyNo Human Rights CommissionA listening minister?The Straw doctrine: rights and responsibilities Chapter 10 - A Rather Susceptible chancellor:Change in the courtsForces of conservatismThree hatsA wider debateSeperation of powersThe Lords and PinochetLegal leapfrogWakeham sidesteps the issueA peculiar system Chapter 11 - Hogwarts-on-Thames:Letting in the MugglesNeither dignified nor efficientSocial workersThe awkward squadA luxury prisonBlair and parliamentThe uses of modernityDivide and ruleA breakdown in consensusAccountability Chapter 12 - Subjects, customers or citizens?:Political exclusionCitizenship, not identityHow to be a republicRituals for anthropologistsGood Queen LizKeeping the status quoEurope and its citizensLiving outside eurolandThe Amsterdam triangleBritish pragmatismAn unavoidable debateBritannic minimalism Chapter 13 - The D-word:A reform scorecard for LabourConfusion over Lords reformDisillusion over freedom of informationElective dictatorshipA lawyer's defenceAmbiguities of reformBlair uninterestedThe modernization riddleDemocracy, cynicism and modernizationCore beliefsBelieve in me Bibliography

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