Wow! eBook
The Men of 1924: Britain’s First Labour Government
Author(s): Peter Clark (Author)
- Publisher: Haus Publishing
- Publication Date: January 17, 2024
- Language: English
- Print length: 304 pages
- ISBN-10: 1913368815
- ISBN-13: 9781913368814
Book Description
In January of 1924, the cabinet of the first Labour government consisted of twenty white, middle-aged men, as it had for generations. But the election also represented a radical departure from government by the ruling class. Most members of the administration had left school by the age of fifteen. Five of them had started work by the time they were twelve years old. Three were working down the mines before they entered their teens. Two were illegitimate, one was abandoned at birth, and three were of Irish immigrant descent. For the first time in Britain’s history, the cabinet could truly be said to represent all of Britain’s social classes. This unheralded revolution in representation is the subject of Peter Clark’s fascinating new book,
The Men of 1924. Who were these men? Clark’s vivid portrayal is full of evocative portraits of a new breed of politician, the forerunners of all those who, later in the last century and this one, overcame a system from which they had been excluded for too long.Editorial Reviews
Review
“Replete with remarkable insights into the lives of these men who transformed the British political landscape in 1924.”
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“At the centenary of the first Labour government in 1924, Peter Clark fluently and lucidly illuminates British politics in the early decades of the 20th century, give insightful short biographies of the Labour cabinet and a sharp account of their nine months ‘in office but not in power,’ and shows how the 18-year-old Labour Party was taken from the fringe of significance to being the alternative for Government by the eclectic mixture of Socialists and former Conservatives and Liberals, devout Christians and militant atheists, local Councillors, trade union officials, and a former Viceroy of India, conscientious objectors and a Brigadier General, revolutionaries and reformers, old Harrovians, and several who had been workers at a primary school.” — Neil Kinnock
“As we approach the 100-year anniversary of when the first Labour government took office in January 1924, this is a timely new book.
The Men of 1924 is a compelling account of the remarkable group of politicians who shaped not only that seminal moment in our history, but also influenced our national story for many years afterwards.” — Nick Thomas-Symonds MP“An endlessly fascinating account of a truly seismic moment in British history. Peter Clark records that moment by introducing us to the first non-aristocrats to govern this country. It’s a mystery why nobody thought to tell this amazing story before but nobody could have told it better. Brilliantly conceived and beautifully expounded.” — Alan Johnson
“The events of 1924 changed British political history forever. A good study of the government and its principal actors was long overdue. Now on the centenary we have it.” — Anthony Seldon
