States of Emergency: British Governments and Strikebreaking Since 1919

States of Emergency (1983) examines the co-ordinated Government planning in Britain to counter major strikes in vital industries, an effort that began in earnest during the aftermath of the First World War. Contingency planning by Whitehall ministers and officials aims to calculate the point at which trade union demands plunge the country into chaos, and how best to mitigate the effects of stoppages in essential services and industries. The dilemmas faced by Lloyd George were familiar to Callaghan and Thatcher, and in addition to being a full investigation into this hidden factor of state power, this book is a real contribution to the administrative history of Britain.