John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister?

John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? PDF Author: Kevin Hickson
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1785902717
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of one of the most momentous general elections this country has ever seen. John Major's defeat in 1997 ended a record eighteen years of Tory government, prompting accusations of failure and ignominy. A controversial leader, Major oversaw numerous crises in international and domestic policy. Between 1990 and 1997, he presided over Britain's participations in the Gulf War, the start of the Northern Ireland peace process, the Maastricht Treaty negotiations and, famously, Black Wednesday and Britain's exit from the ERM. Towards the end, Major's government was split over Europe and ridden with allegations of sleaze. Widely criticised by the media and politicians from all parties, Major went on to be crushed by Tony Blair and New Labour in the 1997 general election. An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? is the first wide-ranging appraisal of John Major's government in nearly two decades. This book reconsiders the role of John Major as Prime Minister and the policy achievements of his government. Major's government faced many more constraints and left behind a more enduring legacy than his critics allowed at the time or since.

John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister?

John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? PDF Author: Kevin Hickson
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1785902717
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of one of the most momentous general elections this country has ever seen. John Major's defeat in 1997 ended a record eighteen years of Tory government, prompting accusations of failure and ignominy. A controversial leader, Major oversaw numerous crises in international and domestic policy. Between 1990 and 1997, he presided over Britain's participations in the Gulf War, the start of the Northern Ireland peace process, the Maastricht Treaty negotiations and, famously, Black Wednesday and Britain's exit from the ERM. Towards the end, Major's government was split over Europe and ridden with allegations of sleaze. Widely criticised by the media and politicians from all parties, Major went on to be crushed by Tony Blair and New Labour in the 1997 general election. An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? is the first wide-ranging appraisal of John Major's government in nearly two decades. This book reconsiders the role of John Major as Prime Minister and the policy achievements of his government. Major's government faced many more constraints and left behind a more enduring legacy than his critics allowed at the time or since.

Whitewashing Britain

Whitewashing Britain PDF Author: Kathleen Paul
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501729330
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Kathleen Paul challenges the usual explanation for the racism of post-war British policy. According to standard historiography, British public opinion forced the Conservative government to introduce legislation stemming the flow of dark-skinned immigrants and thereby altering an expansive nationality policy that had previously allowed all British subjects free entry into the United Kingdom. Paul's extensive archival research shows, however, that the racism of ministers and senior functionaries led rather than followed public opinion. In the late 1940s, the Labour government faced a birthrate perceived to be in decline, massive economic dislocations caused by the war, a huge national debt, severe labor shortages, and the prospective loss of international preeminence. Simultaneously, it subsidized the emigration of Britons to Australia, Canada, and other parts of the Empire, recruited Irish citizens and European refugees to work in Britain, and used regulatory changes to dissuade British subjects of color from coming to the United Kingdom. Paul contends post-war concepts of citizenship were based on a contradiction between the formal definition of who had the right to enter Britain and the informal notion of who was, or could become, really British. Whitewashing Britain extends this analysis to contemporary issues, such as the fierce engagement in the Falklands War and the curtailment of citizenship options for residents of Hong Kong. Paul finds the politics of citizenship in contemporary Britain still haunted by a mixture of imperial, economic, and demographic imperatives.

The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997

The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997 PDF Author: Piers Brendon
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307388417
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 850

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Book Description
A WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD NOTABLE BOOK After the American Revolution, the British Empire appeared to be doomed. Yet it grew to become the greatest, most diverse empire the world had seen. Then, within a generation, the mighty structure collapsed, a rapid demise that left an array of dependencies and a contested legacy: at best a sporting spirit, a legal code and a near-universal language; at worst, failed states and internecine strife. The Decline and Fall of the British Empire covers a vast canvas, which Brendon fills with vivid particulars, from brief lives to telling anecdotes to comic episodes to symbolic moments.

The Great Divestiture

The Great Divestiture PDF Author: Massimo Florio
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262062404
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
Using the tools of social cost-benefit analysis, Florio assesses the effect of privatization on consumers, taxpayers, firms, shareholders, and workers.

Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714-1837

Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714-1837 PDF Author: Gerald Newman
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780815303961
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1284

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Book Description
In 1714, king George I ushered in a remarkable 123-year period of energy that changed the face of Britain and ultimately had a profound effect on the modern era. The pioneers of modern capitalism, industry, democracy, literature, and even architecture flourished during this time and their innovations and influence spread throughout the British empire, including the United States. Now this rich cultural period in Britain is effectively surveyed and summarized for quick reference in a first-of-its-kind encyclopedia, which contains entries by British, Canadian, American, and Australian scholars specializing in everything from finance and the fine arts to politics and patent law. More than 380 illustrations, mostly rare engravings, enhance the coverage, which runs the whole gamut of political, economic, literary, intellectual, artistic, commercial, and social life, and spotlights some 600 prominent individuals and families.

The Abolition of Britain

The Abolition of Britain PDF Author: Peter Hitchens
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472938569
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
'This is a cri de coeur from an honest, intelligent and patriotic Englishman desperately worried about the corruption of this country and the likely effects of its lurch into the clutches of a European.' - The Spectator Hitchens identifies everything that he feels has gone wrong with Britain since the Second World War and makes the case for the 'many millions who feel that they have become foreigners in their own land and wish with each succeeding day that they could turn the clock back'. Writing with brilliance and flair, Hitchens targets the pernicious effects of TV culture, the corruption and decay of English language, the loss of deference and the syrupy confessional mood brought on by the death of Princess Diana.

Picturing Empire

Picturing Empire PDF Author: James R. Ryan
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780231636
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Coinciding with the extraordinary expansion of Britain's overseas empire under Queen Victoria, the invention of photography allowed millions to see what they thought were realistic and unbiased pictures of distant peoples and places. This supposed accuracy also helped to legitimate Victorian geography's illuminations of the "darkest" recesses of the globe with the "light" of scientific mapping techniques. But as James R. Ryan argues in Picturing Empire, Victorian photographs reveal as much about the imaginative landscapes of imperial culture as they do about the "real" subjects captured within their frames. Ryan considers the role of photography in the exploration and domestication of foreign landscapes, in imperial warfare, in the survey and classification of "racial types," in "hunting with the camera," and in teaching imperial geography to British schoolchildren. Ryan's careful exposure of the reciprocal relation between photographic image and imperial imagination will interest all those concerned with the cultural history of the British Empire.

Cultural Marxism in Postwar Britain

Cultural Marxism in Postwar Britain PDF Author: Dennis L. Dworkin
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822319146
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
A history of British cultural Marxism. This book traces its development from beginnings in postwar Britain, through transformations in the 1960s and 1970s, to the emergence of British cultural studies at Birmingham, up to the advent of Thatcherism, to reflect a tradition, that represents an effort to resolve the crisis of the postwar British Left.

1997

1997 PDF Author: Richard Power Sayeed
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1786992019
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
'Beautifully written, brilliantly insightful' Owen Jones Tony Blair and Noel Gallagher shaking hands at No. 10. Saatchi’s YBAs setting the international art world aflame. Geri Halliwell in a Union Jack dress. A time of vibrancy and optimism: when the country was united by the hope of a better and brighter future. So why, twenty years on, did that future never happen? Richard Power Sayeed takes a provocative look at this epochal year, arguing that the dark undercurrents of that time had a much more enduring legacy than the marketing gimmick of ‘Cool Britannia’. He reveals how the handling of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry ushered in a new type of racism. How the feminism-lite of 'Girl Power' made sexism stronger. And how the promises of New Labour left the country more fractured than ever. This lively, rich and evocative book explores why 1997 was a turning point for British culture and society - away from a fairer, brighter future and on the path to our current malaise.

Britain in the Twentieth Century

Britain in the Twentieth Century PDF Author: Charles More
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317867777
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
In a century of rapid social change, the British people have experienced two world wars, the growth of the welfare state and the loss of Empire. Charles More looks at these and other issues in a comprehensive study of Britain’s political, economic and social history throughout the twentieth century. This accessible new book also engages with topical questions such as the impact of the Labour party and the role of patriotism in British identity.