Keeping the Red Flag Flying: The Labour Party in Opposition Since 1922

Labour leader Harold Wilson was once asked how difficult he found being prime minister of the United Kingdom. ’Not half as difficult as being Leader of the Opposition’, he replied. Sadly for the Labour Party, much of the last century has been spent in shadow government. But were these wasted years in the Party’s history? Or did they offer vital opportunities for creation and improvement?

In Keeping the Red Flag Flying political historians Mark Garnett, Gavin Hyman and Richard Johnson offer the first in-depth account of Labour’s periods out of office since becoming the Official Opposition in 1922. They argue that, far from being barren periods in the Party’s history, Labour’s opposition years from MacDonald to Starmer have been undervalued and misunderstood. Across the book’s eight chapters they scrutinise Labour’s approach to reforming the party machinery, its development of policy proposals, its success in appealing to the wider electorate and its skill in opposing the government to identify the key hallmarks of successful opposition, as well as common mistakes. As the Labour Party prepares for a long-awaited return to government, this insightful book on Labour’s past has vital lessons for the Party’s future.

Mark Garnett is Senior Lecturer of Politics at Lancaster University. He has written numerous books on UK politics, including the popular textbook Exploring British Politics, now in its 5th edition, and The British Prime Minister in an Age of Upheaval.

Gavin Hyman is Senior Lecturer of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University. A specialist in continental philosophy and religious thought, he also teaches on socialist thought in Britain.

Richard Johnson is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Queen Mary, University of London. He has published widely on the history of the Labour party, and is co-editor of Sceptical Perspectives on the Changing Constitution of the United Kingdom.